The Uzumaki Chronicles: Rising Tides
by ShadowsEdge96
Summary: What if Naruto was actually trained by the Kyuubi early on after a certain event at a very young age. This is a intelligent, dark, powerfull and skilled Naruto setting. Though this story is action based, romance will be mixed with an epic journey from the class "dobe" and hidden tortured soul to the savior of many ages to come. Rated M for violence, gore, and sexual themes/lemons
1. Beginning Wake

Helloo everyone, for the veterans following my story, this is a revised version of the original. Not much has changed from the first post aside from the title of the chapter (I added one word lol but it relates to the title of the story and its better than just beginnings xD), its just a lot more smoother now and with way less mistakes. . which should be none now. . but If you find any let me know and ill get right on it. the next updates will all be me fixing the chapters that I've already posted, after I've gone through each of them ill post the next actual chapter. I should have revised each chapter as soon as I was done with them but every time I finished it was always like 2 or 3 in the morning, and lets face it, I was too lazy to do it xD but ive learned my lesson and will do it right the first time. So, for you new readers, this will be a very dark beginning that will sound like the story "Lavender Heiress, Desert Rose, and Snake Princess" by hazeleyes180, as I have said in the original post, the beginning to that story was the inspiration for this chapter and I in no way shape or form intend to copy his/her work. As a matter of fact, that story is amazing and I'm still waiting on the next chapter xD

things will not always be this bad, and ill alert you when something "bad" will happen in the story.

_italics is something important or emphasized_

_italics in ' ' are thoughts_

and for now that's good as I don't want to overload you with information right now, ill let you know what's what as the story progresses. so without further ado, welcome to rising tides my friends :) happy reading

* * *

It's been many years since the Kyuubi No Yoko had been sealed, and the already battle worn Saindame Hokage had steadily grown more and more weary on the subject of what became of the Bijuu on that faithful night. In particular an orange-clad boy not 5 years of age that hadn't been seen in over a week in a half by the only shop occupied by the only person besides his daughter that hadn't shooed him away like a stray cat or dog that was simply part of a neighborhood rather than a little boy. How the two were connected? The same missing boy wasn't just your average five-year old. While most kids his age have imaginary friends to play with, the little Blonde boy didn't need one.

His friend wasn't imaginary. His friend was the same nine-tailed fox that had been away a few years before. On the same night of his birth, the little boy had the most powerful of the nine tailed-beats locked away inside of him. Having a child live virtually every second of his life with a demon within him was risky business to say the least. It was for this reason the Sandaime's worry of the situation was increasing with each passing year.

Though on this night the "God of Shinobi" that had his watchful eye on the young and at the moment wayward boy for the years up until, had an especially bad feeling clawing at him. Surviving not one but three Great Ninja Wars, needless to say his instincts and gut feelings weren't to be taken lightly, and on this night they were kicking against his stomach as if he had an untamed horse kicking inside him rather than the usual butterflies that occupied it when a dangerous situation presented itself.

Yes the night was beautiful in Konoha, a real treat and blessing to those who would appreciate it. The wind was nothing but a steady and calming breeze that cradled leaves that dared fall under its watch. The moon shun brightly as if making sure nothing could not be seen unless one held their eyes closed. The quiet streets were only challenged by the few night prowlers who fumbled through the alleyways after enjoying a night of drink and laughter along with the occasional brawl. All of this would be normal, not a single second thought would show itself if a first thought were even conjured. But on this night it wasn't normal. On this night the Sandaime had woken himself from a troubled sleep with a pain in his heart. On this night the Sandaime found himself looking upon a sight that threatened to break the long since war and bloodshed hardened heart like it was made out of withered glass.

To those who had the privilege of being close to, not the Sandaime's approximation of close which even fewer were in that type of position, they would know that the little orange spark known as Naruto who as of late had not been heard from let alone seen, would consider this an anomaly the likes of which would stick out more so than the boy's little orange shorts did against the lush green foliage of Konoha. The main reason being would be the fact that the boy never missed more than a day without seeing the old man if he couldn't get passed the not-so-understanding secretary without saying hi and carrying on a 15 minute conversation on how he would be wearing the old man's hat by the time he graduated and the reasons for it. The brunt of his reasons was that, in his vision of himself, he would be the greatest ninja ever and it was a for sure thing

* * *

"Hokage-Sama . . . perhaps you're worrying too much?" the ANBU stated while scanning the clearly empty streets and alley's surrounding Naruto's apartment complex, the old building being his since approximately 6 months prior to this night after all who had occupied it had rushed to vacate after learning just _who_ it was that moved into the building. The Boar-mask bearing shinobi continued," I can't find anything out of the norm Sir"

Alas, his long-time personal body-guard was probably right. . but then this wasn't what was out of the ordinary. The fact that this has been by far his might-as-well-be-grandson's longest length of time gone without so much as a note left for his secretary, though that probably wouldn't matter anyway since she would dispose of it long before he would ever catch wind of it out of spite for the little blonde, was what was getting to him. He knew the boy wouldn't go this long without any contact with him.

No, he could not leave. For an unknown force was seemingly tugging his conscience toward the deep-blue eyed blonde's door more and more the longer he thought about it and the possibilities of this occurrence. _The Professor _had come to his decision, he would not go home to his now lonely bed without the answers to his questions . . . and the moment he seemingly appeared in front of the blonde's door with speeds his body guards hadn't seen in a very long time, the smell hit him. . the smell of which he wished he wouldn't live to breath in again, especially when it originated from the apartment containing his surrogate grandson.

Breaking the door off its hinges with a mighty kick, he followed the smell to the one within the vicinity of a run-down bathroom, a part of an equally run-down apartment.

With another burst of speed, the likes of which surprising the highly trained ANBU behind him, the longtime war veteran who had experienced horrors and dealt them many times over gripped the handle of the door which held it firmly shut and whipped it backward, shattering the lock.

What came into his sights next sent the God of Shinobi to his knees . . . judging by the smell, and the inhuman amount of blood that in no way shape or form fit the small and bloodied naked 5-year-old body that hung limply suspended on a set of ropes woven into a sheet in a way that would keep his body up while his limbs remained upright, a sort of hammock that one could sit in rather than lay down, though were the boy had learned to construct such a device escaped the shocked Hokage.

Normally the small table that was showcasing the blood-slick old kunai would be used by a child of his age to draw pictures of whatever came into his young and innocent mind, this was not the case. The only color which could be seen was the dark and murky pools of coagulated blood that depicted smear marked which could only had been made by the almost powder-colored blond that was suspended directly in front of it with his little legs halfway dragging themselves behind him as his head was still slumped towards the table, almost as if staring into the crimson pool to see his reflection. . or try to anyway.

Forcing himself out of his trance, which shocked even himself that he was effected by it, he was grateful only for the fact that the little, once life-filled blonde was facing away from him. Leaving only his bare bottom for view though even that was deathly pale if he could picture it with color at all. The four ANBU that had raced in to aid their leader thinking some form of attack had been made to see their strongest and most seasoned shinobi brought to his knees only to be stopped at the near hellish sight that lay but 6 feet from them.

The only thing keeping the contents of his food within his stomach was the fact that he had experienced and seen so much bloodshed. Though he still wasn't immune to such a grizzly sight. . not to something like this, the proof of that was the seeming eternity he had spent on his knees, burning every drop of the precious liquid of life that should be in his grandson into the recesses of his memory. . The idea of cradling the still boy in his arms tightened like a vise clamped on by kami himself.

All the while that is seemed he was on his knees, he realized that he had only fallen for but a moment as his ANBU rushed in seconds after he had entered and immediately began relieving themselves of what was left of their meals from the dinner they had two hours before. The only one who didn't follow suit was a dragon-masked ANBU who, though capable of withstanding the urge to metaphorically regurgitate the sight from his stomach, was not immune to the tears that escaped his right eye.

He regained himself as his longtime leader and mentor walked the long mile towards the, to the naked eye, lifeless body of what used to be the orange ball of energy that he, despite being ANBU and the target of sometimes cruel pranks, were rather welcoming of his company.

Walking the span of about 5 feet that seemed to squeeze every ounce of energy in the Sandaime, he began to carefully undue the binding of the ropes, settling his surrogate grandson softly on the cold and long-since dried crimson wooden floor.

He picked him up with precision and carefulness, as if he were to shatter in thousands of pieces upon the slightest jerk. The God of Shinobi then stood straight up, a deep sorrow and borderline hate-filled expression clearly depicted upon his face then quickly replaced with his own paled and shock expression which could only be matched in color by the blonde that was cradled helplessly in his arms as an almost to faint to be considered a whisper, resonated within the old war hero's ear. "Ji . . . ji" a faint, hoarse, and near soundless whimper bled out from the blonde's mouth.

The renowned Saindame stood quiet. . fearful that he may miss something while trying to reply. And as if on cue, the struggled voice that could shatter a heart made of solid stone sounded once more. "Why?. . Why did I wake up?" That single question was all it took to crack the strongest Shinobi in the village of Konoha, in half. Though he would not show it, his inner peace was veiled in a shadow of sorrow. Its origin. . a woeful question asked by a boy whose smile of joy could make a dying-soul part with a smile at seeing him radiate such life and revitalizing hope of generalities, that was now replaced by a boy who's very voice seemed to drain any life that had or ever would form in your heart faster than any kami could put it.

The fact that Naruto was in this condition wasn't what was slowly grinding his war-hardened heart into dust. He had seen many in a similar way, some of them even younger than the boy he was holding. It was the question that the boy had asked him that was filling his heart with dread.

A child. . no more than 5 years of age, had attempted to take his own life before it even had a chance to begin. . A child's mind is a very mysterious thing, capable of creating things that most adults couldn't even dream of. But to construct a simple rope system to hold yourself up so that you can take drain life from yourself instead of using it as a swing, was utterly mind shattering.

The man known as _The Professor_ because of his vast and extensive knowledge on damn near everything, couldn't get his head around the fact that Naruto. . A young boy barely out of toddlerhood, had tried to take something from himself that he should never be forced to even as an adult. To try as a child, was simply gut wrenching.

But then it hit him. . The moment Naruto opened the gates to his soul, it hit him.

Staring at him with pleading and begging eyes, Naruto's blue orbs were instead Red. . An illuminating crimson-red as dark as the blood that slicked the bathroom floor, glowed around slits that were not human. . but belonging to something else.

The Saindame had then realized the cause. ._'The Kyuubi. . I should have seen this coming. . the villagers. They did this to him. I thought it would be a long while before anything happened but I was wrong, he is only a child. . God I am such a fool.'_

"I keep waking up. . every time I'd cut. . I'd fall asleep. . And after a while I'd wake up. . with everything back to normal. ." The now slightly faded eyes of his ensnared the Saindame's with every word as tears rolled down faster with every hoarse whisper that staggered out of the small boy's lips, "why won't I just stay asleep. . so the villagers will leave me alone?" The broken boy sobbed with struggled breaths before falling into a deep sleep that had been placed on him by the aid of his surrogate grandfather channeling a bit of chakra into the back of his head.

"Dragon-san. . come with me." The now hard-as-steel Sandaime back in control, "The rest of you." He took one last glance at what the little boy had done to himself over the past week, not allowing a single crack in the walls to escape his memory. Then with a more strained and weak voice, as if he had been awake and witnessing every cut the boy made on himself up until this point, he at last spoke the last order for those three for the night, "Leave no trace of what happened here."

Turning the rest of his body towards the door, he left that forsaken apartment, and heading to the Konoha Hospital building. His eyes hardened, ready to strike down any who dared to even come close to getting in his way as he sped across the rooftops of the village. He was on his first mission after many years of just sitting in his office and being held hostage by stacks of paperwork.

His mission, to take his near-death surrogate grandson to the hospital.

* * *

ok not so happy reading, as dark for Naruto as it was, unfortunately it was necessary to give you the feeling for him that I need for the rest of the chapters to unfold. as I've said, not all of them will be this dark and ill let you know if anything of the like will happen. I hope I did a better job this time around with noticing mistakes and making the story an overall smoother read, and sorry for the wait on the next chapter but I really need to get this done :(. As soon as im done revising the current chapters ill update as soon as I can, promise :). soo, for new and old viewers if you have any comments, questions, concerns and/or ideas, feel free to let me know via pm or review and ill get back to you as soon as I can, I actually do respond fairly quickly as others will tell you and your opinion does matter to me. this story is as much as yours (the readers) as it is mine, and I hope to make it enjoyable for both of us :). soo, please review as I'm always looking to improve, and stay tuned for more rising tides as I revise the chapters and very soon following, update.

Happy reading my friends :)


	2. Ripples made First steps taken

**Alrighty, the second chapter is revised and only 4 more to go. I apologize that its taking a little long, been a lot happening and all the other usual bullshit life has to throw at you. For you veterans, I did actually add a little something here and there along with the smoothening of the original txt. I personally didn't like a few parts of this chapter when I had posted it the first time, and rectified that this tine around lol im a little picky with how my story sounds. for you newbies (I hope there will be more xD) this story had a rather dark beginning, and unfortunately it was necessary as it will show how Naruto will pull himself out of the abyss of his tormented heart. ill give a disclaimer when there's another dark part of the story and/or lemons. though the lemons wont be happening for a while as they're obviously waaay to young for that . . . for now anyways :) heheh anyways, I hope you like the changes to the original and if its your first read then I hope I did a good job with the revision . happy reading my friends**

**I'd also like to put it out there that sadly, I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form (except in my thoughts and dreams but shhhh don't tell anybody) anyways, onward with the show!**

* * *

Leaving the night which should only belong in one's most horrific nightmares behind, the Saindame, the leader and longtime defender of Konoha sadly never returned to his bed. It would have been pointless, not to mention a guaranteed torture for he would surely haunt himself with a replay of what had happened just hours before.

Leaning fully into the soft embrace of his chair that was standing at attention behind his desk, the Hokage was shifting through letters and notes.

Over and over again he read through bits and pieces of the title-less papers, putting them down and flipping to the next one. Each paper he read through, he skimmed through each line but registered none of it in his head. For minutes that seemed to be hours, the old man read the blurred pages until he finally stopped with a sigh. He was held hostage by himself, and soon found himself staring into the framed picture of the Yondaime.

He was an undisputed mirror though a fully grown version of the boy that he had the pained and shame-filled responsibility of personally admitting to Konoha's Hospital, in an almost robotic and helpless fashion while making sure, most regrettably so, that no further harm would come to the boy that had worked his way into the deepest crevices of his now battered heart.

"This isn't what you wanted. . ." Sighed the now aching leader, "And I've allowed it to come this far. ." The former mentor of Konoha's revered Yellow Flash forced out with a weighted whisper, the likes of which were only allowed and meant for himself. "He was supposed to be a hero to the village. . not the village's vent for revenge against the one who forced you to make your sacrifice" The usually calm and collective man who analyzed and planned everything before he so much as stepped in and out of his office, suddenly smashed his desk in splintering halves with a forceful grunt and failed attempt to keep his frustration from reaching his surface.

The frustration of failing one of his closest friends he ever had and would have immanent on his brow. He had allowed his closest friend's child to be tormented to lengths that should never have even been possible.

He was so disgusted with himself he couldn't even feel the burn of the sake he had ingested. Furious, he brought a leg up past his shoulders and whipped it down, obliterating one of the newly formed halves of his desk. But he wasn't finished, as soon as he smashed the desk, he spun on the foot he had kicked down and sent the metal lamp that stood next to his desk flying into a nearby bookcase with a very definitive dent in the middle.

With a few regaining breaths and a brim filled cup of sake which would only be drunk on a few occasions a year making its way to his stomach, the now determined man sat back down into his chair, and proceeded to rest his wrinkled forehead upon the support of his right palm. "This ends today" signaling the loyal ANBU who instinctively left they're lord to his thoughts and well deserved, though would have been prevented if there wasn't so much that needed to be done over the last few years, stress relieving single rep exercise. This however was no excuse, and he knew it.

Upon ordering his guards to return, they without a moment's pause trailed alongside and behind him as he once again continued to tear at himself with his frustrated and self-loathing thoughts. '_Forgive me Minato. . Kushina. . it should never had to come to this point'._

In what seemed as an instantaneous skip to the now broken boy's room, turning the knob and motioning his subordinates to stand guard, he let one last vow lash at his pride and will as he entered and gazed upon the lifeless but alive soul that lay before him. '_I have failed both of you'._

Relieving himself of the shackle which took the form of an elegant but simple hat, bearing the kanji of _Hokage_ upon it, the old and worried man sank himself slowly into the chair that was purposefully and seeming tauntingly placed aside the now slumbering blond who's head was tilted ever so slightly away from him, allowing him only a glimpse of his calm and peaceful face. As sleep ever so gently kept him from stirring at the sound of the worried Hokage taking a seat alongside his hospital bed, draped with white sheets that seemed to have just a tiny bit less of color than the blonde headed boy that was wrapped within them. Naruto quietly slept, leaving the Sandaime to his self-inflicting thoughts.

As if standing guard against any who would so much as disturb the silence of the room, the man who stood watch over the boy who's slumbering image could calm any storm with the mere serenity of his sleeping figure, was beside him like a guardian of a divine origin, standing fast for the potential stir which he would devote himself to calm as to preserve the one he serves' trance inducing sleep to ensure that every available second of rest was in fact utilized upon waiting his natural wake.

Only sparing the occasional glance around the darkened room aided by the closed blinds, he found himself being enticed into following the slumbering blonde's role of peace promising sleep, and shoved further into it by the twilight of the room, the only existing rays of light shun in the forms of a few lines that shot their reddish rays of light though the almost paper thin gaps of the blinds that restricted them, indicating that the Sun was barely making its way over the top of the mountain who's 4 faces, one of which belonging to the very man in the room, stood watch over the village. Challenging any passerby to ripple the tranquility of the morning that was unfolding within the village.

* * *

He felt it again. . the feeling of floating in a thick dampness that surrounded his weak body. He was there again, the part that lay within him that he had visited multiple times over the last week, though this time it was different. It wasn't like it had been before where it was as if he were experiencing it outside of his body and looking in. No, this time he was there. The smell of calm and subtly shifting water reached his child's nose and threatened to go in them with each time he bobbed in it. A sort of peace befell him. As if there were no way anything could hurt him so long as he lay still and let the water he was floating in hold him up as would an equally calm lake or pond hold up a leaf. But something else was different about this place. . he couldn't quite pin it down.

The sound of shifting movement, subtle to the point as if there were an invisible wind playfully skipping across the surface of the water that effortlessly held his tired body afloat, the young boy found himself listening to the sound of a deep turbulence. The likes of which he had heard before coming from himself at any given time he so chose to listen. It was in fact the drawing and release of breath. The simple and most unthought-of action one could make. Except this one was different, for it was not his own.

His were drawn deep but with a sound only a light gale of cooling breeze could imitate. The other that seemed not too far, but at the same time out of reach, was drawn deeper still, as if the amount of air it took to fill the lungs which were gathering the breath were limitless in size. After what seemed like a stream of eternal moments of drawing in the necessity of life, it was finally released from its confinement.

Though this wind would not be as soft as the one he created with his breath. This was a gale that was as deep as a strong and warm summer wind that swept across a plain of grass as if passing over it to see how much had changed since the last time it passed through. Yes, the blonde knew that who or whatever the breath belonged to, was indeed sizable enough to make him appear miniscule, that much was clear.

As if rising from the ground for the first time in ages, it indeed seemed like it took ages for the Blonde to sit up, and another age for him to find his feet and finally stand upon them, steadily as if expected something, or someone, to appear before him that he hadn't met for a very long time. This was strange to the blonde, the expectance was something he hadn't yet experienced, and would find that what followed next would be something that he would never forget. . . and nor would he ever wish too.

The deep and warm breath sounded once more as the small, and now ant like boy when compared to the behemoth that dwelled not too far for comfort from him, began to turn his head along with his eternally deep blue orbs to take in the both majestic and petrifying sight that waited not one foot behind gargantuan iron bars that seemed to disappear into the distance of the forever going black sky which he could only assume was the ceiling of this place.

Deep blue eyes met Blood Red as they seemed to peer into his very soul, his very source of being and with a final exhale of breath, pushed it back and replacing it with a shock that could stop the largest boulder from free falling to the earth that lay below.

"**So. . You've finally come. . As I've been expecting you to make my acquaintance."** Said the currently unknown but now slowly emerging into dim but well enough view for the wide-eyed blond to see emerge from darkness, only to be completed from the soul piercing crimson eyes, to that of an orange red fur, surrounding the body of a being of monstrous proportions, and ending at the swishing of 9 equally if not larger in length tails that seemed to carelessly move from here to there, as if moving for the sake of just moving.

The red eyes encased in a black silhouette of fur which only served to emphasize even more of their bloodlike and illuminating nature, completed with ears on-top of a fox-head with a tree-sized fang bearing smirk. All in all, a force of nature in just pure size. A fox, the likes of which only heard in bed-time and scary stories, lay outstretched in front of the 5-year old boy who could do nothing but stare back with eyes whose wideness could only be matched by the look of a human witnessing something which should only exist in the recesses of ones deepest and foremost imagination.

And yet here it was. Slowly lowering its more than average building sized head down to eye-to-eye level. The Kyuubi No Yoko, the bijuu whose name would set off any alarm within a 100 kilometer radius. The Nine-Tailed Fox, who had supposedly been defeated in battle by the Yondaime 5 years ago, with claws the size of more-than-your-average trees, inching their way passed the obstacle of the monolith iron bars, stood not 20 feet before him.

"**Though you are a tad while earlier than I had first thought. .How peculiar." **Said the massive, and near mythical being with a deep and almost resonating voice, the likes of which could be mistaken for kami himself. The giant eyed the boy who immediately stood frozen. Whether out of fear, shock, plain awe or even a combination of the three, it didn't matter to the kitsune. As if reading the boys blank mind and an attempt to reset it, the being spoke again, **"What. . Nothing to say or scream?"** the bijuu asked with a slightly perked ear, **"I'm hurt. ." **The body of pure and immense power lazily spoke as the blond shifted from shock to confusion. A deep chuckle and near laugh could be heard as the fox sat on its haunches, peering down at the insect like human boy that stared almost straight up with his mouth agape, almost as if to say something but the words could not make their way out.

"**You have no need to fear me boy. If I truly wished you dead, you would be just that. If not for me, your futile attempts at your pathetic life would have had you passed on already." **Spoke the enormous fox with a visible look of growing annoyance appearing on its fur clad face, **"Which might I add you will pay for when the opportunity arises, as soon this is over with."**Firmly spoke the giant fox.

At this point, saying the boy was clueless as to what was going on and as to what he should be doing would be the understatement of the century. The boy had absolutely no clue where he was, why the Kyuubi who had been thought to be dead was here in what looked like a prison, and to top it off, he had no idea of how to carry on a conversation with the godly fox.

As if it could read his thoughts, the great fox replied, **"All excellent questions kit, might I say that I must commend you for not replying with anything stupid." **The way he said it was as if he had expected him to reply with something cliché like _uuugh wh-wha-what are you _or _a-are you the K-kyuubi?! _, which made him grow a quick flash of balls for a moment.

"Oi Furrball, just because I'm barely old enough to enter school doesn't mean I'm stupid." The boy retaliated with a surprisingly lethal glare (for a 5 year-old that is), the 'Furrball' as he called it shot him his glare and what little fight he had was again surprisingly reluctant to leave him.

"**Hmm. . impressive for a little kit. . you pass for now." **The Fox stated as he retracted his glare and replaced it with a look of minor, and an 'I have no other option' sort of approving look.

"Umm. . pass what Fur-ermKyuubi?" _I can't make him mad, hell squish me_, answered the once more surprisingly intelligent (for a 5 year-old) boy who had enough common sense to not piss off the tailed-beast who's nostrils are more than 3 times the size of his body.

Speaking of nostrils, the Bijuu smirked a foxy-fang filled smirk and snorted at the small boy's remark, '_**It's going to be rather interesting with this one'**_, thought the fox in his head. **"You pass as possibly being worthy to be my potential container," **Stated the great fox with a puzzled looking Naruto gazing up into his eyes with a look that caught his attention. It appeared as if Naruto was also hearing whatever was happening outside of his mind, for the fox was noticing the whispers that he had been hearing for the past 15 minutes, slowly growing in volume and frequency.

Both took the time to tune each other out and see if they could get a clearer input of what was happening around them.

. . Outside Naruto's mind

". . . Hokage-Sama," Said a male blond Shinobi who's appearance seemed to be worry some for a certain senior citizen who needed no cane to beat some sense into anyone who dared tried to cause so much as a hair to go out of place on Naruto's head (though it would take the eyes of a Hyuuga to detect such a change in the spiky forest that made up the top of his head), the shinobi seemed to be at distress because of the fellow blond currently slumbering in the bed not three feet away from where he was sitting, "If what you're telling me is true. . what will become of his plans of becoming a shinobi of Konoha? With his mental state being in this condition there's no telling what could happen should he be allowed into the academy." The blonde shinobi reasoned.

This really wasn't what he wanted to hear, sure Naruto was in a fragile state but with this shinobi's help, perhaps that could be changed, "Inoichi, please just do this for me. . . not as a shinobi under my command, but as one the few who have my absolute trust and can call me friend." Pleaded the still stand fast guardian of the smaller blonde.

The shinobi now known as Inoichi, a clan head of ninja who specialize in ninjutsu of the mind, capable of altering, destroying, and in some cases even implanting memories within other shinobi if they so choose to. Some of the more advanced of the clan could also invade the mind of other people, giving them access to their mind and memories, allowing them the ability to make friend turn on friend, a useful and intimidating tool in battle. Inoichi found his current situation particularly difficult, as a shinobi of the interrogation unit his professional opinion would be to deny Naruto any chance at becoming a ninja simply because of the danger he would pose to his comrades since he was now clearly suicidal.

With that being said, the seasoned Shinobi was torn because of another factor. The Sandaime, his leader, trusted friend, and not to mention the one who bore the name _The Professor_ because of his extensive knowledge and ability to see things through, had just asked him to basically erase the events of the previous night and allow this suicidal, no, 5-year old suicidal boy a chance at becoming a ninja, who's life depended on other ninja to have your back without question. A mentally damaged ninja would get you killed in no time if given the opportunity, and the Sandaime was asking him to do just that?

Thinking hard on it, Inoichi came to the conclusion that not once has the Hokage ever lead him or the village astray, even when the opportunity presented itself for him to rule with an iron fist during the wars that came along, the Sandaime proved true to his loyalty to his village. His decision was made, he had never doubted his leader's intentions or reasoning, he would not start now.

. . .In Naruto's mind

"**It seems we will have to save this for later boy, it's time for you to go back and make sure nothing will happen to your sleeping self. Lesson number one kit, even in sleep your senses must be alert as if you are not." **And with that, the fox slowly faded away into darkness from which Naruto had originally gotten into the landscape of his mind, which he took to calling his _mindscape _as he exited out.

The feeling of floating was upon him once again, though this time it felt as if he were on a cloud, if he could imagine what a cloud would feel like though seeing as its Naruto that's not too hard to fathom, and resurface into his body. Slowly opening his eyes, he found that the dim light in the room was enough to sting and irritate his eyes, as if the amount of light he needed to see was much less than what was being allowed into his once dark-twilight veiled room. The next thing that he took notice too was the fact that what should have been whispers before, were now registered in his hearing to be what normal volume speaking would be. If that wasn't odd enough, he could have sworn someone was smacking their hand into a tub full of water with the clear _slap _like sound that resonated when one slaps their hand flatly into water. His irritated eyes looked up to see an I.V. , the source of the annoying disturbance as every time the liquid from the bag dripped into where the tubing went up his arm, that loud smack sounded again.

'_Well that's new.' _Thought the little blonde as usually a _drip _would be the sound that he would hear coming from something like that, not a amped up drip that turned to a slapping down.

Though what woke him, fully woke him next was the stench that threatened to blow his brains out of his head from the headache it was giving him,_ 'Jiji really needs to brush his teeth!', _remarked the blonde in the safe confines of his mind.

"Very well Hokage-sama, I'll get started," The blonde bowed and turned around set to get to work, but was immediately stopped by his shock. Sitting up on his bed, and who should be completely out for well over a week after what he had been informed of what had taken place not 10 hours ago, was the very blonde boy he had been asked to give a 'mental tune-up' while he supposedly slept. Not knowing what to do, he immediately turned to his leader for instructions.

The Sandaime couldn't believe his eyes. What was once a little boy on the verge of death and damn near the same color as the bed that he was currently laying in, now was propped up and fully awake, looking around as would a little kid surveying around at unfamiliar surroundings, just as he should for he was in fact a little kid. Then it hit him like the smell of his surrogate grandson's blood had the night before. _'The Kyuubi'_. Taking everything he had to not jump up and rush in to embrace the boy in a hold that would put him right back to sleep, the old veteran rose an eyebrow and ask the only words he could form at the moment, "Naruto-kun. . how are you feeling this afternoon?" hoping not to startle the boy in any way after such an experience, though he was only there for 10 minutes of it.

The blonde stood in his propped position for a few moments before turning his little head towards his grandfather. And the sight broke the said grandfather's heart more than it already was. What came into view was a face not belonging to your average bounding with energy toddler. What looked into the old man's eyes was an expression that could make even a dead man look away for the sight was not normal to see on one so young. The dead-panned face that was once one full of radiant laughter and joy that could cheer up a fellow toddler who had lost his favorite toy, now stood lifeless. As if the candle that lit up his face and eyes had suddenly been blown out. And it was almost instantly followed by an imitation of that former face.

Like a clear mask had been put on and could only be seen if you held your eyes inches away from it, the boy's face turned from still and without a spark of life, to a hollow imitation of his usual smile. The sight was truly tearing the old man apart with every fake emotion displayed and sound aloud as the boy began to speak and forced him to struggle to keep his frown from appearing on his wrinkled brow. "Hey Jiji," the obnoxiously loud boy sounded out with a now empty replica of his famous ear to ear grin. Upon continuing his sentence the boy proceeded to change his expression to that of a confused look, arching his eyebrows signifying the truth following his words, "Where am I?"

At this point, the old man didn't have the slightest idea of how to answer the boy's question, fearful of how his reply may cause the small boy who, if he hadn't have carried out of his personal hell, appeared to be perfectly healthy with not a scratch on him. "You are in the hospital Naruto-kun."

Not one second after his words were allowed to escape him did the boy's face undergo fluctuations of emotions whose contents would and should only appear on one who has witnessed true terror and agony. . such as the old survivor himself. "Do you remember how you got here Naruto-kun?" The Sandaime dared ask.

Inoichi was now once again stuck in-between decisions once more in the timespan of only 8 minutes at best, not knowing if his request to alter the tortured boy's memory was still valid. Though something told him to stay put and see how it panned out.

The smaller blonde who could only look down in shame and defeat slowly, as well as painfully replied in a regrettable whisper, ". . yes." At this point there was really nothing he could do or say to get him out of his current situation. The once almost ghost-like illusive child who could slip through and in-between a village whose sole purpose was to seek him out and set forth to bestow upon him his daily dose of hate and blame found himself unable to slip by this time.

The only thing the Hokage could then ask was a three letter word whose purpose would determine the boy's fate, a boy who he had grown to love as his own, "Why?"

The single worded question would set in motion a line of events whose ripples would be felt across the elemental nations and perhaps even the world itself.

The tiny blond looked directly into the veterans eyes, with a look that should not be feasible by one so young. A look that could make even the healthiest and fullest flower wilt and wither as if a plague had been set upon it. A look of defeat and sorrow, the depths of which one could only achieve through years of unending pain and torment. This was followed by an equally simple and short answer as the old man's question, ". . Why not?" the boy spoke, sending the lurched forward body of the great leader immediately into the full support of the chair he sat on.

The man looked at the boy at a loss for words, neither knowing what to ask or say. Not knowing even how to continue what he had set out to do. About to let loose another sentence, he was stopped by the boy's next remark which sent him into a wide-eyed look of both astonishment and fear.

"I know what I have inside me Jiji." The boy spoke as his definition of despair look began to shift into one of blank stillness, "It's why the village hates me." Now sitting on the side of the bed and straightening his posture so he could continue, "I'm not gonna let them make me do it again." The now determined boy spoke with a look of scorn and hint of underlining hate, serving to both reinforce his statement and scare the old man with the almost coin flip change of emotion and body language. An act that almost never occurred to the old time veteran.

The little blonde bunched up bits of the blanket on his hospital bed as he balled up his little fists. And an all too familiar presence made itself known, though it did not show, it didn't have to as the old war hero could feel the tailed beast in his grandson's shadow as he shook with anger. The limited light in the room seemed to dim even more as the boy spoke once more, "I'll never let them hurt me again!"

Had his eyes not been the deep-blue that they were, the old man could have sworn he could see the blurred image of the mythical kitsune that was sealed within his grandson, reveal itself as the shadows behind the boy seemed to wave and fluctuate like smoke as he imagined the commanding presence of the great fox staring him down.

If this was the power of the fox as he was sealed, one could only imagine what it was like when it was in no such prison. Glancing behind the boy for not even half a second, the Sandaime could see the handy work of the boy's hatred for those who had led him to the self-infliction. The drip the hospital had Naruto on was all but operational, as the pressure from his anger had made it constrict on itself like a vise. A plausible side-effect from being attached to the boys arm via needle.

The Hokage could do nothing but sit there and continue to stare at the boy with his still unmoving wide-eyed and cemented look of shock. Of all the years he had lived. Of all the years he had fought. Of all the years and everything which he had survived and conquered. All that time proved for not, as he had absolutely no idea of what action to take.

Looking back at one of his true friends, trusted with some of his deepest and most guarded secrets of both himself and the village of which he protected with his very life, he motioned him to sit down. For his request would no longer be needed.

* * *

Upon entering his now thoroughly cleaned apartment which only he could detect the faintest remnants of the stench that had once filled it, the small boy did the only thing that was on his mind, and that was to sleep. . more. Having explained as best as he could to the Kage that would ultimately decide what to make of the previous night's events of how he was going to mold himself into a unbreakable rock who would never again be brought to such a low depth of one's self. For some, the absolute bottom of existence will prove to be the drive to push one to become great.

Naruto's sole purpose now was to strengthen himself to the point to where absolutely no one could ever push him a millimeter into the abyss he was in just the night before. He was going to forge himself into someone who could never again be harmed. And he was going to do it if it meant earning the village's complete and utter hate for him leaving their torments reach. He would live for himself and any who would recognize him for the human that he was, not the beast which was locked within him.

. . . Elsewhere

Upon finishing his discussing with Inoichi about how they were going to go about handling the now, and hopeful, resolution of the previous night's situation, the tired leader finally allowed himself a moments rest and rightfully soothed his aching temples with a gentle and troubled rub. The decision was made to allow Naruto the chance to prove himself capable of both becoming a ninja, and remaining stable with control over his emotions and actions. Of course being as young as he is, that statement would be held true until he graduated, and would need to check in with the old man regularly and discuss his day and what and how he was feeling.

Now noticing the awaiting pile of paperwork whose presence seemed to never leave him, he could do nothing but sigh and proceed to get them done, having to make do with the 2 hours of half-sleep that he had gotten 4 hours before.

The next day was your average sun bathed day in Konoha. The villagers were going about their business and attending to their daily activities and necessities. None paid any attention to the little blue-eyed blond who was lazily making his way through the busy streets except for the occasional glare and look of disgust.

Most went ignored if not, then unnoticed as this was the usual thing for the said blonde who was heading nowhere in particular with his hands dug into the little pockets of his dark orange shorts coupled with blue sandals and a black shirt with a red spiral on his back. He quickly became accustomed to this since he had to fend for himself and buy his own food, clothes, and pretty much everything he would need to make it with the monthly allowance given to him by his Hokage-Jiji. Though it barely kept him afloat since he was charged at least double the price of your common villager, paying the community issued "demon-tax" that was so graciously bestowed upon him.

Having no taste for the food which would comprise your normal diet since the food he was charged double for was almost always spoiled or tampered with anyway, Naruto found himself practically living off of a diet comprised almost entirely of ramen provided by the only place, whose owners were his only friends, that wouldn't point him in the other direction with the aid of anything easily able to be thrown, be it heavy or boiling also heading in the same direction to give him a little tap of motivation to go away.

The boy found this to be ok though, he'd much rather enjoy the lush and glorious taste of ramen surrounded by golden broth which made his mouth water with the mere idea of it anyway.

Making his way through the passer-byes at a steady pace, not wanting to draw any attention to himself whatsoever, he quickly found himself doing exactly that when he unintentionally ran into a young dirty-blonde, shoulder-length haired girl with bangs along both sides of her face though leaving plenty of room to see a pleasant and now increasingly pink filling face accompanied by bright blue eyes, opposite of his own deep blue ones, Towards the back of her hair, it looked as though it was being grown out for a ponytail or just natural flowing hair, he couldn't really tell from his view.

She looked to be around the same age as him, wearing a simple purple dress ending at about knee length coupled with tan sandals and two red bracelets on her left wrist. While he was momentarily spacing out he forgot to slow down in the process of walking into her, causing her to stumble back a bit and drop the brown bag she was carrying, "Oh man I'm sorry!" Naruto quickly apologized and took a gentle grip upon the blonde girl's shoulders as to not let her fall, desperately trying not to draw any more unwanted attention than he needed, "Are you ok? Here lemme help you," he just as quickly released her and proceeded to pick up the bag for her, showing that he really meant no harm and was of no threat to her.

Upon returning to a standing up-right position, Naruto found himself staring back into the light blue orbs once more, seemingly needing to memorize their color since he had never seen anyone else with blue eyes in the village as it wasn't a very common trait. An undeniably cute and soothing voice befitting of the blonde girl's appearance voiced out as she tried to calm the now panicking fellow blonde down, "I-its ok really, I wasn't watching where I was going," The girl assured as she gently waved his distress off as a "no biggie" gesture. The flash of kindness that appeared right after what most villagers would consider an act of aggression from him, took Naruto by surprised as he was expecting her to cry for help and have him lynched for attacking her.

"U-umm ok," was all that Naruto could muster. Forgetting all the previous events that were still fresh in his young mind as he found himself in true, uncharted territories. "A-are you sure you're ok?" he followed up as he quickly surveyed his surroundings, expecting a stray pot or stick to greet his little body with force enough to leave him with a bruise and scrape.

The other blond giggled as she brushed a bang from her sight, "Yes I'm sure silly! It was only a little bump, no worries," the girl giggle more as she again waved it off, this time with a bright smile, amused that this boy would fret so much over a bump that was clearly not on purpose. "I'm Yamanaka Ino," greeted the blonde girl now named Ino with a cheerful bow as she tapped the sides of her legs upon completion as she was energetic herself, "What's your name?" she asked with a smile, completely forgetting about her bag that was being held by a tense and fellow blonde boy, she rather enjoyed making friends.

"I-I'm Uzumaki Naruto," replied Naruto with a nervous smile, he bowed and scratched the back of his head as his fabled ear to ear smile lit up his face, "A pleasure to meet you Yamanaka-san," to say he was both relieved and happy that he was having a normal conversation with a potential friend would be like saying his love for ramen could be measured. . there was no way of telling how much Naruto loved ramen, the kid ate it with a passion of the burning of the sun and would likely live in Ichiraku's kitchen if he were allowed to.

The girl giggled again, succeeding in making the usual tanned boy take on a slightly redder shade in obvious embarrassment, "Where were you heading to make you run into me?" the blonde asked in a teasing manner taking notice of Naruto's embarrassment for walking straight into her.

Though he didn't want to sound stupid, he really couldn't come up with an excuse so he set about another round of scratching his head and decided to wing it, "Nowhere really, I was just passing the time heheh," was all he could say as he anime style sweat dropped, doing a complete 180 from the broken boy that he was just the day before.

The girl smiled at his honest and seeming cheerful nature, "Well, wanna walk with me to my house so we can play?" Ino asked innocently as she stuck her hands out, indicating her need to retrieve the bag that she had forgotten about.

Naruto was at a loss for words as he had never been asked to play with another kid before, at least one that wasn't under the watchful eye of a hating villager. He instinctively widened his smile (if that were possible) and nodded, "Sounds great, lead the way Yamanaka-san" Naruto cheered with a smile that could make the sun jealous of its embodiment of light and joy, he held the bag with both hands and turned slightly in the direction of where Ino had been heading, "I'll carry your bag for you, it's the least I can do for making trouble for you," he said, not offered, determined to make a good first impression of his first friend.

Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, the owners of the ramen stand from heaven, were very dear and good friends of Naruto's. he'd even began to think of them as family seeing as how he spent most of his time there carrying out conversations of anything that came to mind, though mostly it was him pouting as they're busy teaching him how to spell and count. It wasn't that they weren't enough for him, it's just that nothing beats having a friend of the same age group that you had a lot in common with.

Ino just smiled as her cheeks began to take a rosy shade of red, the duo of blondes set out to her house, and while Ino was content on introducing her newest friend to her parents as she often did, though her only friends as of now with the exception of Naruto consisted of a tall in stature 6-year old boy with a pineapple hair-cut and a thick as well as tall statured and also 6-year old boy with a long brown spikey hair and red swirls drawn on his cheeks that Ino was always seen with. She loved introducing her friends nonetheless when she could.

Her newest friend however, had other thoughts on his mind. Primarily coming up with an excuse to leave as soon as he walked his new and only friend Ino home if her parents didn't see him when they arrived. If they were to see him sooner he would quickly make an excuse as to not lose the friend he had just made to another set of hateful parents.

The two walked at a leisurely pace, talking about anything that came into mind though it was mostly Ino talking while Naruto listened and replied when he thought appropriate. He was very nervous and picked his spots since he really had no idea on how to converse with anyone his age, his lack of things to talk about was proof of that, but he discovered that he had a knack for going along with whatever Ino was talking about and found himself having a nice little conversation with her.

The more they talked the more easily he found it to absorb the information that she was giving, though it didn't seem like information to her but rather normal talk, Naruto didn't miss a beat and memorized every word of it and would be sure to play it over in his head as soon as he went back to the "safety" of his apartment if it wasn't rigged with the usual traps that either soaked him in used cleaning water, stubbed his feet with a falling heavy piece of wood hanging above his door rigged to release when his doorknob was turned, or walked in to be greeted by the contents of his apartment to be found all over the place and likely broken or torn.

At least that's what it started off as. Nowadays it seemed the villagers were taking it up a notch and started added _metal _to their trapping arsenal. He wouldn't have gotten a hold of the rusty kunai he'd rather forget at the moment otherwise.

The newly friended blondes reached their destination and after leaving the pouting looking Ino who made him promise to come play the next day, Naruto made his way to his apartment. With many things on his young mind, the only normal one being his new and only friend named Ino, a cheerful and never quiet girl who accepted him the moment they met.

He didn't mind the fact that she never stopped talking on the 20 minute walk to her home though, in fact he rather enjoyed it. His usual life was too quiet with the only noises to be heard were the insults and threats of the villagers and an empty apartment complex to keep him company at night as he sat up wondering why they hated them so. Now knowing the reason why, he would occupy his time differently from now on.

Surprisingly enough he had no obstacles at his door, nor was his apartment thrashed when he stepped inside. He went into his kitchen to fetch an instant ramen, put it into a pot with water and proceeded to boil it. Sitting down and halfway through the large pot, he took the time to stop halfway through his meal of the noodles of life and smiled.

"I made a friend today" He spoke with a flash of happiness laced with hope and slurped it down with the rest of his pot.

* * *

**Soo, much more cheery than the previous chapter I hope with the exception of the beginning. I know the beginning chapters are relatively short compared to the later chapters, and honestly im leaning towards increasing the chapter lengths more or keeping them at least at 20k words. its just so much easier for me to include all that I want and make you readers happy :). As I've said before, I hope I didn't miss anything with the revision lol that would be bad since that's why im going through my current chapters in the first place before I update a new chapter. hopefully its a lot smoother on the eyes and on the mind, and I hope you all enjoy the story so far :).**

**As usual, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns/ideas, feel free to post them as a review or pm me and ill get back to you as soon as I can. id like to put it out there that I actually do respond to my pm's fairly quickly from what ive heard from the readers that have msged me. (why don't authers respond? that doesn't register in my head o.O) if I don't get back to you in the same day or even hour that you pm me, expect a reply by the next day as I guarantee I will respond :) soo, without further ado, thankyou for reading, and have yourself a nice morning, day, or night :)**


	3. A new Light Unveiled, a Stitch now Sewn

**Woohoo the next chapter is out :D, this will show the beginning works of Naruto's path to greatness. As for the seal that he and the Kyuubi start to develop, it will play a very big role further along the story. I won't give anything away but I'm sure the more avid readers can make out what purpose I'm going to have behind it, I'll have to kindly ask you to not spoil it for the other readers :). Also, the rate in which Naruto excels in fuinjutsu and overall jutsu in general will basically be a testimony in how fast Minato did. Like I said before, he won't be completely over powered like Itachi, he's going to be like Kakashi in the sense were he just has very adaptable skills and is able to develop at a speed far faster than normal. Naturally his body and skill are much more adaptable than normal courtesy of the Kyuubi and his elite bloodlines. Anyway, without further ado, onward with the next chapter!**

* * *

Waking up from a rather unpleasant dream of the happenings of the week prior, Naruto finds himself sitting up and saying good morning to no one in particular. Thinking back on the events that had happened the day before he found himself at a loss at what to think. On one hand, he had basically promised to keep himself under control on all levels be it psychological, physically, and now that he had extended the knowledge of knowing about his inner "tenant", he also has to make sure that he keeps his relationship with the demon within to the best possible level. Seeing as how it's a bijuu he has to keep in check as he works to bond with him, one can only ask how hard can it be?

Figuring its best to start early, the young boy dove into the place he had now named his _mindscape_ and proceeded to talk to the beast within. Once again, he found himself in the calm and soothing waters of the underworks of his mind. The peace that he found there was still baffling to him, as if nothing could ever disturb or harm him so long as he remained in the ever subtle wake. Looking up to the endless black sky or ceiling, whichever it is, he thought that with all this peace, life in this confinement was actually a blessing. To never be disturbed or stared at with a look that stated the day was cursed as soon as he was brought into this hell of a world. . but then too much of one thing always become the opposite of that which you first thought of it.

"Umm. . excuse me Kyuubi-san?" the boy didn't really know how to address the being without offending him or even so much as annoy him. The last thing he wanted to do was have a pissed off bijuu, the strongest of them no less, to be pissed off at him for not knowing how to even talk to it.

Turning to its side, the being simply looked the boy over, as if deciding what to make of him and his current situation. Though it wasn't as simple as that. The being continued to look the boy over, taking in his figure and memorizing every inch of him. A deep thought came upon the giant fox and visibly shrugged as if deciding something that was either a _now or later _situation, **"As I've said before, you have potential to be worthy of being my container. ." **the being spoke as it shifted from its side to stand tall and proud over the miniscule boy in comparison, **"And as such, stunts like you pathetically tried to pull last week will simply not do." **The now glaring bijuu stated as if it were the young boy's parent. The mentioning of the previous week's occurrence made the said boy flinch in both surprise and shame along with a quickly shifting of emotions until it settled upon one of calm determination, content on taking in everything the great fox had to say. The said fox then followed accordingly to his thoughts and lowered its head to meet the blonde eye to eye, **"If we are to work together as your leader plainly put it. ." **the fox then held out one paw and cut it with a claw, a sort of cloud like substance oozed out in place of blood, though illuminating in the same deep red color. The boy had learned of this substance before, but thought it to be invisible as most of the books stated unless the force was both potent and in abundance enough to do so. Seeing this visible force collect into a cylinder like object, it paid tribute to the fox's enormous and legendary as well as near limitless strength.

Upon settling onto the surface of his mindscape's water laced floor, the glow of the deep red chakra reseeded and set about transforming into an equally sized scroll, now laced in a thin veil of the chakra that it was formed from. Even the scroll towered over the boy, standing at almost 3 times the size of him, seeing as how the 5-year old Naruto was only about 120 centimeters tall (roughly 4 feet) the scroll easily reached 300 (10 feet). Motioning the boy with one of its giant claws, the young blonde without hesitation followed suit and slipped through the giant bars that held the fox at bay, content on showing his effort at building a form of bond with the said beast with the beginning of undeniable trust.

The fox was impressed, the boy was clearly weary of him, and even more so afraid of power. And yet he stepped into his side of the bars without a moment of hesitation. _**This will be very interesting indeed, **_the great fox nodded to himself mentally and again sat on his haunches observing the boy as he settled next to the towering scroll. His tails swishing aimlessly from here to there like a care free breeze was guiding them. The small boy looked to the scroll and back to the being that called it forth with his own essence. He was intelligent enough to know that for the beast to bring forth this scroll from his own body, to a human such as himself, was of great importance and he would not disrespect the probably honor and deliquesce of the act.

The being spoke, **"An honor indeed kit. And a great one at that." **The proud fox show cased the mysterious scroll with a gesture of his claw bearing paw, indicating to the blonde that it was indeed allowed for him to inspect it, less there be trickery behind it. He took it in, every withered line and crack in the parchment. It looked old, very old. And a sort of presence emanated from it, as if it were indeed a vessel full of untouched and untold power. A physical fear took hold of the blonde as he looked it over and back towards the fabled fox that sat watching him not 15 meters from him. **"What I am going to offer you is something that I haven't offered any since I was first sealed over 100 years ago." **The fox said with audible reverence to the one whom he had apparently offered the very scroll next to him, over a century before. **"This is a bijuu contract. ." **the being spoke with a visible look of remorse, honor, respect, and pride all rolled into one, **"It binds a tailed-beast such as myself to whomever we choose to be our companion. . This is my contract. The contract of the Kyuubi no yoko." **The fox spoke as one of its wayward tails softly coiled around the scroll and laid it on its side, the aura of the red chakra keeping it stable and afloat on the water's surface, **"It binds me to whoever I **_**choose **_**to be **_**allowed **_**to sign it." **The fox continued as another one of his tailed then unrolled the scroll to its full extent. **"It states that I, the Nine-tailed fox, will be bound to you for as long as you shall live." **Continued the great being as he cut the tips of all nine of his tails, and both of his palms as he inscribed _his _name at the end of the contract, **"Also binding all of my powers to you as well. With this blood contract, I can neither kill you, or any other you deem out of my reach. With this I am bound to you, and you to me. Any harm done to you will also be done to me. And any course you decide to take, will determine my fate as well, seeing as I am sealed within you." **The fox spoke as he finished inscribing his name upon the parchment.

During the whole explaining of what the scroll was and everything that was implied, the young Naruto was at a loss for words. Not only that, but was overwhelmed with the fact the _he_, the cursed boy to a fate of despair and hate, had in fact the opportunity of being bound and effectively the full cooperation and loyalty of the most powerful being the elemental nations. To say that he had no idea what to do, would be saying he wouldn't know what to do if ramen were to blink out of existence. When grouped into a whole, the idea of being friends with the most powerful being in existence was very tempting, but even Naruto knew that good things come at a cost. He had learned that lesson very well.

He thought hard in a very short amount of time, not wanting to press his luck and miss this opportunity forever, he asked the one thing that was on his mind, "What would you want in return Kyuubi-san? A being as powerful as yourself wouldn't want his power be lead around like a boy like me." The boy asked innocently. This triggered something that would surprise him every time he would think about it.

The box quirked an ear, and spoke a sentence that would resonate in the boys mind for the rest of the day, **"Firstly, I am not a male." **The fox said as its tails visibly twitched in offence, though how could it blame the boy, as he looked as confused as a math question, **"I'm female."**

The boy could do nothing as his jaw hit the floor in disbelief. The fox caught this thought and urged forward a bit, **"Can a supreme being such as myself not be female?" **the now apparently female fox asked with a hint of offence and anger as her tails swished ever so slightly in an aggressive manner

"N-no problem with that!" the boy said waving both hands in an attempt to calm the impatient fox, "I-it was just unexpected is all" the boy exclaimed as he scratched the back of his head in a nervous manner.

The fox did nothing but grunt as her tails settled down, **"Anyways. ." **a now flustered fox spoke as she saw no harm done, **"I only want 3 things in return for my cooperation with you kit." **the fox spoke in a serious tone, **"Firstly, I am not your slave and will be treated with the proper respect, with no obligation to share my power unwillingly if I see no need for it." **The fox eyed the boy in a manner which said "Try it, I dare you." Naruto got the point and nodded. **"Secondly, while I am loyal to you, you will In turn be loyal to me and heed my words with the utmost importance when I ask or tell you to do something. I will not ask you to do anything you will deem "dangerous to the village" either as I will not abuse this as an attempt to gain leverage over you. I have more honor than that." **The she-fox spoke with an honest tone, merely trying to look after her _kit_ as she will basically be parenting him from here. Naruto was struck with her words, a sense of belonging crept over him as he understood to an extent of her intended kindness behind her second request and nodded with a warm smile. **"Lastly, and I will take back my contract if I am denied this." **The fox said reverting to her commanding presence as Naruto nodded in confirmation, **"I will do everything in my power to ensure that you die a natural death of old age, but when you do I will reanimate shortly after. My final request is that my freedom is ensured and will not be damned to another Jinchuriki. I also vow that I will never set foot within this village upon my parting and no harm will come of it by my hand. I never intended to harm this village as I had no reason too. My final request is freedom. Promise it, and we are life partners until the day you leave this earth." **The fox spoke with an especially disgusted and hateful tone when she mentioned attacking the village, but Naruto had no reason to pay it any mind. Thinking of how he was going to break it to Jiji, Naruto bowed on his hands and knees, "I, Uzumaki Naruto, vow to ensure your freedom and serve to the best of my abilities as your Jinchuriki. This I swear on my soul, which will be yours if my promise is to be broken." Naruto spoke in an equally serious tone, though lased with a feeling of sincerity and gratefulness. He was also thankful that he listened in on a lot of his Jiji's talks, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to pull of his miniature speech.

He couldn't see it, but he could feel the sound of her body moving as the mini gale was caused by her movement, the Kyuubi no Yoko bowed in return, and lifted his head with one of her tails, **"I, Kurama, the Kyuubi no Yoko, deem you my Jinchuriki." **The now majestic fox spoke with the reverence of kami his-self (or herself, after learning of the Kyuubi's gender he began to question logic on certain aspects), as she surgically cut his right palm with the tip of one of her claws, **"Bind us kit." **She spoke with a tone and feel of that which he could only imagine and label of that of a mother's tone when she spoke to her child, ensuring it that everything was going to be ok.

Naruto nodded, held up his hand in a thumbs up and a look of determination and a silent promise, and plunged his hand onto the contract, next to his tenant's name. The moment his hand touched the parchment, and his blood soaked in, the all too mysterious cloak enveloped him, and surged into and all throughout him. A searing hot but freezing cold feeling shot through his body and is threatened to explode his body with the amount of power racing throughout his body and chakra network. With a grunt, and just as he thought his body reached its limit, the feeling subsided, and the deed was done.

As though waking up after not sleeping for days, Naruto sat up in his him, though on the floor, and wondered if it had all been a dream. **No kit it wasn't a dream. **The voice of the great fox resonated in the back of his head, though as loud as a normal voice would reach his ears. "Kurama-san?" the boy said aloud and looked to see if the fox had somehow found her way out to greet him. **Talk in your head kit, less the villagers think you're going insane. **Naruto nodded mentally, _How do you do that Kurama-san? _He asked, noticeably puzzled. A slight chuckle was heard, **Just Kurama is fine kit. And to answer your question, I can hear your thoughts.** "Oooh" escaped his mouth as another chuckle sounded. _Can I hear your thoughts too? _Asked a curious Naruto, **No kit, I'm afraid that's a one-way street. **Naruto nodded mentally.** Say kit, didn't you have something to do today? And a promise to keep? **Asked the knowing and grinning fox. _Oh crap Ino! We'll talk later Kurama, gotta go! _ Shouted Naruto in his head as he threw on clothes and made for the meeting spot that he and his newly made friend Ino had made the day before at training ground 6. _**Heheh as if I'm going anywhere**_, the fox rolled her eyes as she continued her thoughts, _**to think I signed the contract with the kit. . It seems as though this will be very interesting indeed**_, thought the fox as she rolled over to her side and proceeded to take a nap. _**I should have the kit do something about this damn sewer when later. **_

It was a rather beautiful sunny mid-day in Konoha. The sun was shining brightly as it generously drenched the breezy grasses of Konoha's training fields and the every so busy streets of the village itself. Each tree seemed to dance to the tune that the breeze was softly playing and never ceased movement for too long. The only thing still was the trio of little kids waiting impatiently for a certain blonde who was running late. A blonde who's hair was multiple shades darker than her Sunkist colored wayward friend was waiting anxiously for her newest friend, fearful that he may had been fibbing when he promised to meet her there with her currents playmates, one tall for a six-year old boy who was occupying himself with absolutely nothing as he laid down against a nearby tree with his hands behind his head, smashing his pineapple style haircut to the side almost as lazily as himself. Her other, hungrier companion to say the least, was on his third bag of potato chips as he was steady munching his way through it as if it were second nature to him, though surprisingly the red spirals on his cheeks didn't deteriorate under the constant motion. His spikey hair was just as robotically standing up on its own.

Minutes went by and not so much as a sliver of a sight of the wayward blonde ball of energy was seen, and the little purple clad blonde girl awaiting was very, very nervous. _Common Naruto, where are you? I'm gonna beat you up when you get here!_ The little pouting girl began to tap her foot on the ground as she began to get the feeling that the source of her anxiety was near.

_Crap crap crap double crap . . oooh Ino's gonna be soo mad at me! Damn and I was supposed to make a good impression today too! _Thought the boy as he cleared the wall of bushes alongside the unseen, but not unheard or smelled, trio of kids awaiting his arrival. Landing on his feet with on hand on the ground to balance his landing, the little blonde found himself staring into the eyes of a fellow, female blonde with lighter blue eyes than his, but with an awful twitch of temper building up as her foot was now tapping at a pace of which was intimidating at how fast her foot was going. The said blonde smiled a nervous smile and began to scratch the back of his head, "Heheh, eeh how's it going Ino-chan" the already nervous boy began to sweat as he could feel her twitching brow move about, "Eer, Ino?" upon looking at her he knew he was in for it. Quirking a brow, her foot stopped and she scanned him over. He wasn't hurt so he couldn't have been late due to an injury. He didn't seem to be sick because he wasn't sneezing or anything of the else along the lines of being sick. What she did notice were the bags under his eyes and how groggy he looked. It was decided. She thought he over slept.

Bracing for impact, Naruto took one for the team. _Crap, didn't think ahead to see if he had enough time for all the chit-chatting earlier._ **That chit-chatting as you called it happened to be important kit. **_Butt out of this Kurama! _**Heheheh. **

"NARUTO-BAKA!" yelled the little blonde terror as she hit Naruto on-top of his head, successfully waking up the sleeping boy against the tree and stopping the thicker boy mid chew with her shouting, " I thought you were supposed to meet me here an hour and a half ago!" Ino continued as Naruto flinched and looked down in an unforeseen shame and defeated nature. If Ino didn't know any better, she'd swear she had heard a remorseful and almost shuttering sigh escape her fellow blonde's mouth. Worried she'd just ruined her newest friendship Ino placed her hand upon his shoulder and proceeded to lighten things up, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, maybe you were really busy and came here as fast as you could. I mean you did vault over the bushes over there at top-speed to get here." Looking over to the bushes she was referring to, she then realized that the feat Naruto had pulled off was incredible. The bushes had to at least be almost 2 meters tall, sparking a curious aw as to how the boy managed to vault over, top speed or not.

Turning to her fellow blonde to question how he managed to vault over, she was stopped in her tracks as the boy was still looking down as ever, though with a held back tear in his eyes, "Naruto-kun, are you ok?" Ino asked sincerely as she was beginning to worry that she had really over done it.

Naruto took a shuddering breath and faced his used-to-be friend who was now worrying for him, "I'm sorry Ino, I'm sorry I showed up really late. ." the boy let another breath escape him as he prepared for the worst, "You must hate me for not showing up on time, and on top of that making your other friends wait on me too. . I'm sorry." The blonde looked down again in defeat, ruining his first and probable only chance at a friendship with someone who accepts him for him, and not the demon inside him. **Hey. **Kurama pouted in her own way. _Sorry, you know what I mean. . _she nodded her head in understanding, **All too well kit, I'll leave you alone for now.** _Thanks. ._ the boy hung his head further in his mind.**Don't mention it.**

Ino was taken back at this remark, sure she had blown up a little bit but that didn't mean she hated him for being late, she was just teasing if she even was upset. Seeing as how she was only 5-years old, just like Naruto, she didn't quite have the capacity to think further into his behavior and the things that he was saying so she decided to just salvage the situation and continue on with their play day like they were supposed to. "It's ok Naruto-kun, really. Nothing to fuss about." The little girl said with a smile. Without anything to fight with Naruto could do nothing but nod his head in agreement and put on a small smile as her other two companions seemed to be into the commotion he had unintentionally been making. "Ah yes, Naruto-kun, these are my other friends!" the now excited blonde was near jumping out of her shoes as she pointed to her comrades in childhood, she waved her had at the tall for a 5-year old with a pineapple haircut, "This is Nara Shikamaru!" the girl giggled as the boy stifled a yawn, "Yo." Was all that was said before a whisper that only Naruto could hear ever since waking up in the hospital which made him chuckle under his breath as the boy named Shikamaru was muttering _troublesome, _under his breath as the "troublesome" girl's wave come upon the now frowning, thick boy who had just finished his last (third) large bag of potato chips, "And this is Akimichi Choji" Ino rolled her eyes as the boy now named Choji was still fretting over his shortage of snacks as his stomach made the problem audible.

Naruto bowed in acknowledgment, surprising both boys as he greeted them, "Nara-san, Akimichi-san, very nice to meet friends of Ino-chan" he spoke with as much respect as he could muster, not wanting to miss or mess up another opportunity of possibly making more friends. The boys looked at each other and the Nara just shrugged with a smile, "Just our first names are fine Naruto, friends of Ino's are friends of ours." The boy said with a smile while pointing back at Ino in a hitch-hiker fashion as the thicker boy nodded as his mouth was too full to speak as he somehow managed to procure another bag of chips seemingly out of nowhere. Naruto could only smiled as the group of kids set off to play ninja, Choji being IT multiple times as he was always easily caught.

". . . hmm" mumbled a blonde clad ninja as he was off resting in a tree while watching his only daughter play with her usual friends and with the addition of the broken boy he had seen but a few days ago. If he hadn't had peered within the young boys mind for a split second before the walls of his mind came crashing down in a baffling defense for a boy let alone anyone at all, Inoichi would've never had been able to tell him apart from any other kid running around and playing ninja with their friends before entering the academy. The proud father couldn't help but smile as his daughter had done the simplest yet most life-saving and life-changing decision that she would have in her life. Taking one last glance to the energetic bunch, minus one particular Nara, he once again smiled as he saw the real version of the fabled 'Naruto-smile' with every bit of vibrant joy present in it while he stalked off back to the interrogation headquarters, as his lunch break was over.

* * *

On his way home, young Naruto had stopped by Ichiraku's to tell Teuchi and his daughter Ayame all about his new friends and how they had spent the whole day playing. The humble owners of the shop were so excited and happy for their might-as-well-be surrogate son/brother, that they had offered him unlimited ramen for a week, not caring if they had to restock their inventory 3 or 4 times, seeing as how the boy could finish a whole cauldron by himself, where that food all went into his tiny body is a question that they asked themselves many times over and just left it to be one of the wonders of the elemental nations.

It was about 8 O'clock at night, the streets of Konoha were quiet as activity died down and everyone were already settled in for the night, having completing their necessary everyday tasks hours before and were now either having a late dinner or going about their family business. It was then that Naruto felt an ominous presence upon him, seeing as how there was nobody around that was _visible, _the boy came to the conclusion that he was very familiar with. He was being watched. Growing up always being watched and having to sneak your way around just to get to a quiet place to rest or even go out to get his essentials to live, Naruto had developed a sense of stealth that shouldn't be present until he was already a trained ninja. Though the village had saw to it that he were primed and ready to go far before he would ever reach the academy.

Sensing his body was in danger, and vibrantly hearing a thrown object sail through the air and heading straight for him, Naruto instinctively dove forward and circled behind a dumpster in a nearby alleyway. Only a moment passed by and he already knew what was happening, for it had not and would not be the last time. Looking through the crack in-between the dumpster and the alley's wall, he could vividly make out the gleam of a shuriken, embedded halfway into a wooden post that was next to him just a second ago. His little heart racing, and knowing nothing else, Naruto ran for his life as he could also make out a figure in the dark of night relatively small in size but wearing a headband on his forehead, bearing the symbol of Konoha upon him, signifying that he was indeed a ninja. However new he may be, it still made him deadly to Naruto, and he knew it as his pace just increased even faster; far exceeding one of his age at the rate he was going.

Not stopping, the blur which was Naruto was racing straight through the middle of the village, not bothering to call for help as he already knew that would only see to it that others joined the one that was already chasing him, intent on taking his life. Hours seemed to pass by as his pursuer didn't let up, and the sprinting Naruto was panting heavily as he was desperately trying to get away and save himself. Dipping his head away from the sounds of shuriken whizzing by, and taking with them tips of a few of his blonde hairs, Naruto took a chance and did a hard right turn, into another alleyway leading out to the training fields.

Not looking back, the boy maneuvered through and about the long alleyway's debris as if he were a seasoned acrobat, content on winning some sort of prize (the prize in this case being his life). Dodging and bounding, bouncing and jumping from and on-top of dumpsters and pieces of wood littering the long alleyway in-between the Konoha construction's warehouse and a large apartment complex, his movements started to become more fluid and precise, as if he were 'getting better' at running for his life. His pursuer was indeed surprised by his sudden increase in acrobatic ability as he thought he would have ended the demons life minutes ago, seeing it now was sending a chill running through his spine as it was only 5, imagining what it would be capable of later was all the more drive for him to kill it.

Chancing a glance back for only a fraction of a second, Naruto could clearly see the shape and glint of a kunai being drawn, intended on finding its way into his little body. Facing forward again, he dug deep and raced even further, while still avoiding shuriken. Then time seemed to stand still as did his heartbeat. The once moon-lit alleyway was beginning to be covered in a shroud of darkness growing from the edges of his eyesight. And just as half his vision was blackened, leaving only the center unimpaired, a tunnel vision if you will, a warm and fire like feeling flowed through his little body as his sight exploded into clarity as he was nearly blinded by the amount of light that the moon was giving off. He felt light as a feather, and yet strong as he had never known before as he hopped from wall to wall and took off on all fours without so much as a fraction of a second thought. Leaving his pursuer behind in terror as the power and killing intent emitted from him froze the rogue in place and even caused him to cut himself as he crashed in a sudden stop.

Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Naruto couldn't tell how long he had been running, as his vision was now incredibly blurred, almost blind. His body no longer felt light, but heavy, as if he weighed as much as two Choji's (though he would never say it aloud as apparently he doesn't like people pointing out his weight). His vision looked grey, as if all the color was taken from the world. Then, at what seemed like the worst time possible, racing alongside a line of bushes that surrounded many training grounds, Naruto felt as if he were pulled by whatever force was pushing him forward, and down deep into what he thought was a hole in the ground, and fell for what seemed like eternity as he saw the light of the moon fade away from the space of which he fell in from, morph into only a ray of moonlight as he finally crashed into the ground in a loud thud. Toppling and flopping on every part of his body possible, sharp pains invading him every time he hit the floor and fell again. _Stairs? _Thought the blonde as he finally hit a solid stopping ground and slid for a few seconds that seemed to be minutes, inevitably slowing to a standstill as he let out a breath he had been holding, and taking deep panting breaths as the warm feeling subsided and soft panic along with exhaustion took hold.

**Hush kit. . You're safe now. **Spoke the great fox in a relieved manner, though Naruto couldn't notice as heattempted to open his eyes but to no avail as his body was battered, weary, and completely drained of energy. **Sleep now kit. I'll take care of you and any who try to tamper with you. . Sleep kit, you earned it. **The boy didn't have to be told twice, though he reluctantly slipped into unconsciousness, allowing his body to heal and rest. Kurama nudged as the boy's body had already shimmered into the mindscape and was now being wrapped up in her tails and held next to her cheek. Naruto never knew this but he often appeared in the mindscape while he slept, seeing as how she really had no reason to hate the boy as he had no choice in having her sealed in him, and having to endure everything he was all for protecting the building. She hadn't told him yet, but she could see through his eyes, hear what he hears, and feel what he feels, along with just hearing his thoughts. She had been there every step of the way so far, and it hurt her to see this innocent boy being forced through such treatment, and though she didn't show it, it broke her heart seeing him and feeling him attempt to take his life to escape a world that condemned him or saving them. Even if he wasn't a bijuu, or even a fox. No offspring that young should ever raise a hand against itself. She had already made up her mind to bind herself to this boy, and watching him go through yet another gamble for his life so soon after their union only cemented her will further to help this boy change his fate. . For it would be a fate that determined so many others.

* * *

4 hours earlier. . .

It was a relatively peaceful and non-eventful day for the Sandaime as he had created a few shadow clones that reluctantly burdened themselves with completing all the paperwork on his desk while he caught up on lost sleep and contemplated on what actions to take accordingly. Alas, his dreams were indeed plagued with flashbacks of what he had seen in that cursed apartment of his surrogate grandson's. The war hero had many demons haunting his conscience, and even more his dreams. But this was one he would not be able to suppress, as the sight was never seen even during the three great ninja wars that he had fought in and survived. There was a reason why the wars were called the three hells by those who had the misfortune and curse to fight in any of them. The things that they were permitted to do, the things that they were ordered to do, and the things that they did outside of their orders as their hardened hearts allowed them to do whatever was necessary to keep themselves and their family's alive and safe, would have the same effect on them if not even more so then the Sandaime himself. What he had pulled Naruto from was, with lack of a better word, a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. Being blinked from his tired thoughts, the old man sat up and looked towards the door which had been struck by a few knocks.

The old Hokage groomed himself a bit and placed the bearing weight of the Hokage hat upon his head and spoke, "Enter." If it had been any other day before the recent events, the Hokage would've found Inoichi's stopping by an enjoyable presence as the two often talked about common and village topics alike. The two were like friends who caught up with each other every time they met, even if it were only a few hours or a day since the last time. This time however, was very grave as the comrades had recently shared an experience both would give much for it to have never happened.

Stepping into his leader and friend's office, Inoichi wore a smile of reassurance, signaling that the news he brought was good, and was already cheering the worried man up as he bowed in respect before speaking. "Hokage-sama, I have news that I think you'll find very relieving, and you'll laugh as to who is the cause of it." The blonde Jonin spoke with an underlining of humor, as if saying 'why am I not surprised' with the little shake of his head that he gave.

Seeing the relief in his face along with the obvious glee that went along with it, the Hokage smiled along and nodded his head, "So, who does this good news revolve around Inoichi?"

A soft but solid smile broadcasted itself proudly upon the blonde nin's face as he continued, "Well it seems as if Naruto-kun has made himself a friend. ." Inoichi reassured with a nod as the Hokage's brow shot up in a questioning manner, "3 actually If you count earlier." Finished the obviously proud ninja as he awaited his lord's reply.

The Hokage couldn't be happier, "And who might his saviors be Inoichi?" asked the Hokage with a reference to the boys broken state when he left them in the hospital.

Inoichi looked down a little at the subtle but obvious reference to what had transpired with the little boy who was more a wreck than a P.O.W. stuck in an enemy's interrogation headquarters. But, thinking back to how his daughter had unknowingly pulled the tortured boy out of his pit, even I by a bit, was enough to leave him without a doubt that he would be ok, "Well, it seems Ino has seen something in him, they barely met separately and aren't separable when they are together playing Heheh." Ino was truly humbled, realizing how much impact having people acknowledge and befriend you can have.

The Hokage could do nothing but smile at hearing the words of his friend, assuring him that his grandson was indeed getting better. And so soon after the horror of his demise at that. "It seems she takes after your wife when it comes to healing people's spirits eh Inoichi?" The old man spoke with a knowing and sincere tone.

Inoichi blushed and smiled harder at the statement, bringing him back to the time when he and his wife had been courting before their marriage. . or rather his wife courting him as he was very shy and at the time in a difficult place after the 3rd war. "Heheh yes, she's just like her mother." The blond blushed in even more embarrassment as he ran his hand through his hair and clenched his little ponytail as he wondered just how much shed resemble her. "I'm very happy that they've become friends, and I hope that they'll stay friends." He continued as his joyous smile returned in confirmation that he may have gained a new party member at dinner as Ino often invited Shikamaru and Choji.

The Hokage did what Inoichi had never thought he'd do seeing as how he was the leader of the village and expected to be an object of strength, making him take a stumbling step back, the Hero of the three great ninja wars, the god of shinobi, and the professor all rolled into one wise and powerful shinobi; had embraced Inoichi in an almost suffocating hug as he could only choke a single word out in gratitude for the blonde father not trying to distance himself or his daughter from his surrogate grandson and possibly saving his life. The only word to be sounded, but who's feelings were felt none the less was a solemn, and shuttered, "Thank you. ." almost whispered out as he drew himself back and collected himself. Though every ounce of gratitude and honor was conveyed, he still felt the need to shake the blonde Jonin's hand before he saw himself out.

Sitting back into the comforting embrace of his chair, the old and little less worried man found himself taking up the picture of the Yondaime again, and smiled as the smiling figure in the picture seemed to know what he was going to tell it already. With a waist level bow, the Sandaime retired to his bed, and went on to dream of nothing in particular. Just the Sun filled grounds of the Konoha Grand Stadium, a picture perfect day, with a cool breeze lazing its way throughout the empty bleachers and benches below his balcony.

* * *

Settling home after her fun-filled day of playing with her friends and with the addition of a particular blonde boy, Ino was especially happy that she now had 3 very good friends and was making herself even more excited and bouncing out of her shoes that in only 8 months, herself and her trio of best friends would hopefully be going through the ninja academy together. The possibility of them ending up on a team together or at least with one out of the group if they were split apart was very comforting. As she would put it, they were totally pro at playing ninja, and were very good at hiding. Well, all except for Choji, but he would find something he's really good at besides eating sure enough.

Making her way down the stairs leading to the living room, Ino was starved from the day of play and was ready for dinner. Upon entering the dining room, she found the table already set which puzzled her, as it was usually her job to set the table, the next thing she noticed were her parents already sitting there waiting for her. She knew she wasn't in trouble because they greeted her with a smile, so figuring it was just because, she smiled back and sat down and proceeded to have a nice dinner with her parents. A nice, normal family dinner.

After having a peaceful dinner, and a few minutes of talk about each others general day was and what not, Inoichi turned to his daughter, "So Ino, I heard you've been hanging out with Naruto-kun lately." he spoke with a commanding, almost spiting voice. However, Ino was prepared. She had known from the start who the boy was seeing as how you were considered stupid for not knowing who 'the demon-brat' was. Why she gave him a chance was simply because she did not judge anyone without knowing them first, as she would hope people would do so to her. And what she found was a peaceful, caring, and gentleman of a little boy. He was no different than anyone else and if in fact anyone said differently in front of her she'd give them a good kick in the shin!(as her shin-kicks were feared after a man accidently spilled a cup of water on her new dress somehow and walked with a limp for 2 weeks). Ino took a deep breath and stared down her father as best she could, "Yes father, and he's not who people say he is. He's my friend and anyone who says different will have to answer to me!" the little blonde fury exclaimed as she flexed her little arm show casing what pain awaited those who would challenge her view of her newest best friend.

Inoichi couldn't be prouder of his daughter, for being as sociable as she was, he was afraid that she would follow the crowd and hate Naruto just because everyone else did. Seeing as how this was the case, he smiled widely as did Ino's mother and nodded in approval, "I'm glad to hear it Ino." he spoke with noticeable glee as it shun on his face like a light as she was his princess and he would never think of her as being so low as to follow the crowd as they should follow her because she was his princess.

Looking towards her husband in a humorous manner, she continued for him as he was currently probably occupied with conjuring up countless different ways as to why his daughter is his 'princess' and will always be his princess because of how much he loves her and of how good of a person she is and will be no matter what. "And we'll be expecting one more addition at our dinner table next time we have your friends for dinner." a hazel eyed, shoulder length hair brunette beauty with fair skin spoke in her husband's wake with equal glee.

Ino could do nothing but smile and hug her parents as they had _accepted _her newest friend whom she would enjoy spending time with as he was a complete mystery to her. Even at her young age, Ino could tell that she didn't have all of her fellow blonde figured out, nor was he showing all of himself on the surface, but only a little bit as there were moments where he would shift depending on what they were talking about and he would become a completely different person, if only for a second. She was very observant and noticed that these occurrences happened less and less the more time they were around each other, as if he were getting used to being around her, or at least she hoped so. Nevertheless, she was happy, and she went to bed early willingly, hoping that the next day would come faster with sleep as she couldn't wait to spend more time with Naruto.

* * *

Well there you have it, chapter three you guys :), hope you all liked it. Now, I know I spoke too soon on making the pairings obvious within the first three or four chapters, but then I didn't expect myself to go into so much detail in the chapter after this one (which I'm currently working on). To answer future questions, Ino will NOT be in the harem IMMEDIATLEY. Meaning yes she will be in the harem but not until further along in the story. And to answer the questions about the Sandaime's dream at the end, no I will not be speeding that event up at all, I was just giving a look into what being in three wars would probably give you (a subtle tendency for premonition, "battle-sense" if you will) and that will correlate as to why he wore his battle armor when Orochimaru attacked during the chunin exams instead of just having him wear it on a last minute whim. As for where Naruto fell in, and the reason for it, you'll all find out on the next chapter. I'll have to warn you though, it's going to be a really long chapter so it may actually take me a full week or more to do it. Anyway, thank you all very much for reading, reviews go a long way in helping me improve my writing and your entertainment so please do so, and if you have any questions that need answering feel free to put it on the review or pm me personally and I'll get back to you as fast as Kyuubingly possible. Happy reading my friends.


	4. A Change in the Make, The Broken Rebuilt

Hey everyone, the new chapter is out, and I'm sorry for the extended wait. That aside, I'd like to point out that this will contain a lot of information on what will be happening to Naruto, and will explain a lot about how he's able to do all the things he's going to be able to do in the future. The most evident thing in this chapter though is a idea that I've been thinking about since I first watched and read the anime/manga. It's going to start off as a trivial and basic thing, but believe me, it will end up turning into a very important aspect of the story. Anyways, without further ado, on with the show! Also, I sadly still do not own even a letter of anything that has to deal with Naruto in any way shape or form. . except in my imagination(but shhhh don't tell nobody).

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_ . . . Ugh. . Damn that hurt_, was all Naruto could muster in his mind without having a shocking pain bolt through his little body. Thinking back on the previous days' events, he found that he could recall all perfectly with the exception of what had occurred recently. Only fractions of what he had experienced was left intact in his memory after that surge of unknown power surged through him like a stream of hot but cold fire. **Lay still kit, your body is still recuperating. **Spoke Naruto's demonic tenant, _recuperating from what? I feel like I was put through a blender and had 1,000 needles go in to the mix too. _This was true, as even breathing sent Naruto into a twitch of sharp pains that seemed to swim all around his body. **Listen to me carefully kit, during your escape yesterday you were running on little to no empty seeing as how you were matched with an assassin bent on taking your life. **Naruto mentally nodded in content as doing so physically would just cause him pain. Taking this as her cue to continue the great fox did so. **On the last stretch I flooded your chakra system with as much of mine as I could force through the gaps in your seal. **Naruto had a mental puzzled look as he didn't quite understand what the fox was getting at, but the boy found that letting the fox finish usually led to answers so he decided to just stay silent as she explained what was going on and what had happened to cause it.

Kurama figured that shed have to explain in great detail everything that was currently happening to Naruto's body and what changes are occurring seeing as how he probably only knew the very basics at best about chakra and how the human chakra system worked. Sighing, she dedicated herself to a comfortable position in her prison and went on to break it to her 'kit' just what was happening to him as there was definitely no turning back now. **Listen closely kit, **the great fox began**, dive into your mind so you can focus on what I'm saying and give yourself a break from your body's changes for a while. **Naruto found no problem with that at all seeing as how the pain wasn't going anywhere, rather it was actually growing gradually a bit as whatever was happening was already spread all over his body, but at the same time seemed to overlap and layer itself. This had the boy completely dumbstruck and almost in a panic but he forced himself to save that for later and for now hear what his tenant had to say. The familiar peace followed by the sound of single droplets of water hitting a still lake reached his ears, signaling that he was inside his mindscape.

Naruto looked at himself and found nothing was wrong with his body aside from a few tears in his clothing, it seemed that whatever mental image of himself that he had before diving in is what shows in his mind. Looking towards a now laying on her side Kyuubi, he took a few steps forward and slipped through the gates seeing as how it was no longer necessary to remain on the opposite side of them. Taking a cross legged seat beside the arm she was resting her head on, he leaned back on her searching for comfort. Having never had anyone to coup with after surviving an ordeal such as what she had informed him of, Naruto was hoping now that they were on somewhat friendly terms that he could share his relief with her that he had survived yet another try on his life while emptying himself of any fear and tiredness of survival onto her. Seeing as how nothing was done to resist his attempt at comfort, he found himself relieved and simply laid back on her with his body curled, shielding himself from an imaginative force as if the assassin were there staring at him. Kurama noticed her containers attempt at soothing himself with her aid and made no move to push him away. She willingly signed the contract to bind them to each other, through thick or thin and she would not go back on her word as her contract basically made them a form of life-partners, a sort of family tie. She wouldn't do much, but allow him to use her as support. That alone would have sufficed had it been any other time, but within the vicinity of two weeks, the 5-year old had attempted to take his life, found himself making his first friends and frantically tried to fit with them, and recently survived an attempt at his life from an unknown enemy. Needless to say, the boy was a typhoon of emotion and thoughts. Kurama thought to herself and decided if she was going to hold up her end of the deal, she would have to deal with everything that came with being bound to this boy with both her honor, and her life.

Coiling her once straightened tails into herself, she surprised both herself and her trembling container as she wrapped her tails around them, shielding them from whatever force the boy thought was coming after him as he was in a tight ball shaking without restraint. The great fox resembled that of her image, a fox curled in its den with her cub tucked tightly at her muzzles' side being kept warm by her seemingly impenetrable tail and her body at its back. The boys' body stopped shaking after a while of silence, and Kurama was dealing with conflicting emotions, her, a bijuu, and an embodiment of power was nurturing a mortal boy. It wasn't the fact that he was human that was eating at her, but the ease of which she could do it. To make herself able to nurture this tortured soul. She found herself thinking back to someone who had told her something that she had lived by long ago, but quickly shook those thoughts free of her mind as she had to take care of what was at hand first.

Taking a deep breath as the boy enveloped in her warmth and fur followed with his own though now as deeply drown, the great fox continued, putting aside any remarks towards her pride as she did not find this as a strike to it though it would have before. **"Calm yourself kit . . You're safe remember." **She spoke as the boy continued to shake and dug himself deeper into the fur of her body, as if it were the only thing keeping him alive, though in reality it actually was. Nodding in acknowledgement, she went on to explain what was happening, **"What is now occurring in your body is both shock from having my chakra infused with yours and the activation of your chakra network. ." **she paused, letting the answer sink itself into him, **"Usually when a person's chakra network is activated, it is done around your age for the purpose of being a shinobi. Now seeing as how this was your intent anyways, this isn't the problem." **Naruto's thoughts of confusion were felt as Kurama went on with her information, **"The problem, if it even is considered a problem, lies with how yours was activated." **She paused again and let her container voice his question.

"What's wrong with the way my chakra network was activated?" more curiosity then fear driving his question. Kurama thought of a way to put it in a way that a child could understand, but found it difficult having never been in this type of situation before, and decided to just wing it.

**"In theory, there isn't a real problem-"**

"Then what's the problem Kurama-san?" the fox's ears twitched a bit.

**"If you would be so kind as to remain quiet I'll tell you." **She said with emphasis on the _quiet _part.

"Oh. ." the now little more energetic boy gestured, "Sorry."

The great fox sighed as she figured it was his nature as a child to question everything presented to him, and coupled with his past, every alternative as well. **"Pay it no mind." **She assured the boy with a nudge of her tail that was still keeping the boy warm in his mind, seeing as how it was rather fresh in the underground space of which they both currently are stuck in. **"listen closely kit." **She lifted the boy with her tail and laid back down in front of her so he would have all his focus on what she was going to tell him, as what was currently happening to his body would be the foundation of everything that would be to come as he grows and travels the long and windy road of life. Naruto found a comfortable sitting position on his tenant's tail which had him placed in front of her once fierce gaze, now turned a softer tone. She gathered her thoughts and proceeded to explain to the boy the miracle of which was partaking in his little body.

**"As I said before, there isn't a real problem. . But what is happening to you isn't exactly normal." **She waited for the nod of confirmation as she didn't want to repeat herself if the boy didn't understand, with her own nod she continued, **"Normally when you mortals activate your chakra networks, it is done by another mortal with an ample amount of precision so as the one being activated is not harmed." **Naruto nodded. **"What occurred yesterday wasn't anything near normal. Firstly because I am not normal, but a demonic embodiment of chakra. A chakra monster if you will. Secondly, because of the situation you were in, I couldn't risk not giving you enough of my chakra to ensure your survival and instead flooded your chakra system to its full capacity and even stretched it to the size of one twice your age." **Naruto nodded slower, thinking of what this may mean for him and what may become of him because of his tenant's actions. **"The reaction was nothing of what I had first expected. As you know, you heal incredibly fast for a mortal. Compared to others, you regenerate almost 10 times faster than any human alive. What you and probably no one else knows is that this ability of yours isn't originally derived from my power, I simply gave it more strength. The regeneration was there before I was ever sealed inside you, the result was having it doubled in speed and capability." **Naruto was wide-eyed at the new discovery. The whole time he had thought that his ability to heal like no other was because of having the Kyuubi sealed inside of him, when he found out about her that is. **"Now, why I bring this up is just part of what's happening to you, but, what is happening to you wouldn't be possible if it weren't for this ability of yours." **Naruto was now puzzled.

"What do you mean Kurama?" he asked, genuinely confused and in searched for answers.

**"Well, with the amount of strain that I put on your chakra system and body with the sudden surge of my chakra, by all rights your body should have burst with the amount of power that was flowing and trapped in you." **An increase in breathing started up as the fox held up a paw, **"I would not have put that much if I wasn't sure your body couldn't handle it, I was depending on your enhanced healing to keep you together." **Simultaneously they both thought _literally_. The duo looked at each other and the boy laughed while the bijuu let out a chuckle. **"Now, that's just it." **Naruto looked with a nervous face, **"Your body underwent an unbelievable change." **The boy looked more in curiosity than surprise, he figured if he was still able to do the things he currently was like walk, talk, think normally and what not it couldn't be bad right. Kurama smiled, **"It's not bad at all kit." **Naruto let loose a sigh of relief and vowed himself to be silent until his partner completed her debrief. With another smile she continued, **"You're body did struggle to keep itself together, but your healing pulled through and actually did something that I would not think possible until I saw it happening. . Do you think you can do something for me?" **the Naruto nodded, **"Can you imagine a large piece of grass about the size of one of my claws?" **he puzzled a bit then shrugged, sure _why not? _As he pictured it in his head he found that the act drained him a bit and made him tired, looking up he saw a large 12-foot strand of thick grass standing tall in front of him. Kurama picked it and held it up, **"Say this is a normal mortal's chakra network. What I did would normally fill this up to the brim to quickly for it to grow enough to hold the amount of chakra that I pumped into you. Make another that is twice as big as this strand if you would." **Naruto slumped, _great, more work_, but did so and was now exhausted again though Kurama paid it no mind and resumed her explanation, **"A chakra coil, which Is the center of the chakra network and is where it is distributed from, of this size. ." **the bijuu held up the shorter strand, **"would burst long before growing into a suiting size in the amount of time yours did." **To show case that, she pumped chakra into the grass and splintered it apart as it could contain it. Holding up the other strand she went on, **"Your coil and network along with it expanded more than double its size to hold the chakra that I pumped into you. Though there was a complication." **Holding up a paw to ease her container as he began to protest, **"Seeing as how there is only so much room in the body of a five-year old, your chakra network had to do something so that it could fit itself inside of your body." **Taking the remaining and much larger leaf into both paws, Kurama then folded it in half, **"What your body did was essentially evolution or to put it simply, to adjust to the current surroundings or situation. The size of your network and coils were too large to fit in your body, so instead it compacted." **She then twisted the grass to where it looked like a tightly spun rope seeing as how it was about the same thickness as a rope that would be used on a shipping vessel, **"When it wound itself tightly like this, it also made itself stronger and more efficient. Like how string gets stronger the more you spin it into itself just like I did with this grass." **Naruto understood perfectly as this is what he had used before in a couple situations he was in so he could climb down unnoticed while hiding in trees with his cut up shirt. **"As of now, you have the chakra network and over all power of 1/4 of your Jiji as you so call him in comparison. Seeing as how you're currently barely able to be entered into your village's ninja academy, having 1/4 of the power of the strongest ninja in the village at the age of 5 isn't too shabby." **To say Naruto was dumbstruck would worthy of receiving the life-long label of 'captain obvious' stamped into the forehead of whoever pointed it out. **"With all that being said, and with the fact that you have a much MUCH more powerful and efficient chakra system which is what your healing ultimately derives from, your healing is also twice as powerful and efficient than before. In comparison to other mortals, you are a freak of nature." **Naruto's jaw dropped along with his threatening-to-pop-out eyes, **"Welcome to the club kit." **Kurama added with a now laugh instead of a chuckle, gusts kicked up by her laughter made the boy nearly fall from her tail as she calmed down a bit. Struggling to get up and get his mind over the fact that he, at least in the terms of chakra, surpassed anyone in his generation. But then one question dawned on him.

"Is my chakra network evolving the reason why my body is hurting so much?" he asked, unsure of what to make of the pain he had been experiencing before.

**"That is in fact why you were hurting so much. As you know or will learn soon enough, the chakra network is tied into every cell of your body, every living thing, and the world itself though as for the world's chakra, that is a subject for another time as it will serve you no purpose until you master your own. Though knowing you, you will pester me until I tell you so all I will say is that the world's chakra is most commonly referred to as natural chakra." **Naruto nodded, **"Anyways, because of your chakra network having to wind into itself so it could fit, this has caused your body to take up a few physical attributes that have never been seen before. One of them being your healing, that which you already know. Another is your body itself, it is much more durable and all around a fine specimen close to human perfection when observed medically. To put it simply, you are faster, stronger, and more durable than most mortals. You're muscles for example have done the same as your chakra network, each fiber growing a new one and winding about each other to fit your body's current capacity." **Naruto nodded more slowly, he obviously didn't know the finer details but figured he could learn them later as he would research anything he could from now on as to take full advantage of anything he could do as to not let himself fall prey to the village or anyone else ever again.

"So what do we do now Kurama? Am I ready to go yet?" the boy was rather energetic and with the activation of his chakra and the abnormal amount within being increased near three fold, needless to say, Naruto had energy. . A lot of energy to spare.

**"Be it that your healing has drastically been increased, it still does not mean you are invincible kit. . At least not yet." **Kurama spoke with conviction in her voice as she neared her sentence. She would hold up her end of the deal indeed, and make Naruto worthy of being her container, evolved chakra system or not. Though this quick conversion back to her old mindset was short lived as she felt similar thoughts reach her, whose origin was the very boy she was thinking about training near death (if that were possible). Sensing that the boy would do everything she instructed without question as long as it meant that he would have the strength to protect himself and what he held dear, she made her silent vow known, **"Kit." **Gaining Naruto's attention, she continued, **"You know of all that our bind includes besides all the formalities and prices paid." **The boy nodded, **"I will help you become strong so those pathetic villagers or any who so much as gaze upon my own with ill content, WILL NOT LIVE TO DRAW ANOTHER BREATH TO DIRTY US WITH!" **the sudden burst of undisputed rage and hate would have sent Naruto hurling back if not for Kurama's tail holding him. Having been with Naruto from the beginning, she had felt and experienced everything that he had gone through, and though she could not harm the village that Naruto was questionably sparing, that would not mean she wouldn't give every ounce of help and power to her newly bound partner so that they could vanquish any who dared showed them anything but the respect that they rightfully deserved.

Feeling the rage within himself build as well, blinking hard with his head looking down at his hands whose shape were that of claw growing fists. Breathing hard, the once deep blue orbs were once again replaced by a pair of vibrant blood red eyes complemented by the all too familiar demonic slit in each of them whose fury and animalistic hatred and rage could only be matched by the great demon in front of him. Though Kurama would love to let her kit run wild, she knew that he still had much work to be done and she would be there every step of the way. Her first step to do so would be to put in a safety measure, though having never tried this before it was a rather risky one at that.

As her little feral blonde kit was raging on her tail, she pressed one of the tips of her claws on the part of his back in-between his shoulders not too far underneath his next and drew the growing amount of chakra that was filling her container to the brim once more. **"As of now, the amount of my chakra that you are able to control is very small, mostly due to the seal that was placed on you." **The power that was surging through him was now being drawn to her claw that was pressed into the high part of his back and digging in to draw a few drops of blood. **"I am going to give you my seal, the seal of the Kyuubi no Yoko to aid you in both controlling my chakra to an extent, and as a safety measure in case you're in a situation where you need an extra supply of chakra." **As she was telling Naruto what it was that she was doing, a pitch black tattoo looking seal began forming, and permanently embedding itself into his body as it was infused with his blood. **"Though I will warn you, I have never given this seal to anyone before you, nor do I know what it will become as you grow and it with you. I do know this however, the seal will become what you will make of it. Your soul will determine this seals true purpose as it is directly tied to your life force." **As she drew her claw away, a half yin and yang symbol was left with a fiery looking tribal piece surrounding it had just finished forming, and the last of her chakra that was circling in and around Naruto had completely sealed it into the high part of his back in-between his shoulders. **"The seal is actually incomplete, what will complete it is you. Or rather what your life will become as it will be a reflection of you. This is the most I can give you right now, but it will be one of your greatest tools should you learn to master it." **As the seal drained the last of the chakra, a secondary tribal piece formed on where the other piece of the yin and yang would be, though the chakra that made it was not made by Kurama's, but by Naruto's. **"This is the physical seal of our contract and the symbol of our life-long bond. What state your inner self, or soul if you will, experiences and becomes will show in this seal. It is not a brand, but rather a mark of a true Jinchuriki. This seal is a mirror of what you are and the power within. As you grow and live, so too will it and its abilities." **The huge drain of chakra took its toll on Naruto and he quickly slipped into the warm and peaceful embrace of sleep.

**_Rest now kit. . Your journey has just barely begun. _**

* * *

It had been a troubled sleeping night for one Hokage of Konohagakure as he had yet another bout of endless nightmares of past mistakes and regrets. He sought to make as little disturbance for himself as possible as his sleep deprivation induced headache was making every word of his paperwork annoyingly hard to retain and he often had to reread sentences so as to not accidently sign a request from one of the civilian council members to have Naruto be imprisoned for safety reasons or have him exiled from Konoha all-together. The most the old man could do was sigh as he was growing increasingly tired of their pointless and antagonizing attempts to make the innocent boy's life harder than it already was.

After about a solid two hours of constant signing or vetoing of forms and requests, a deep and forceful knock sounded from his office door, making him glance up regrettably as this couldn't be anything good for a change. "Enter." Spoke the tired and already burnt out old man.

A trio of long black-haired men strode in with a visible look of elegance and expected reverence in each step they took, the look on their faces spoke the silent words '_I'm better than you' _with every non-existent expression that they made. The Sandaime looked to the clock on the wall beside him and thought to himself before addressing the proud men in front of him, _9 in the morning? Much too early for a Hyuuga to be inconveniencing themselves for a demand_.

"Hokage-sama." Two of the now deemed 'Hyuuga' men spoke and bowed silently. The third man in the middle gave an acknowledgeable short bow and spoke, "Hokage-same, there is a matter of which I as the clan head of the Hyuuga have to discuss with you." A bit of venom was issued at the mentioning of himself being the clan head, the two men beside the clan head bowed to both the Hokage and himself before exiting. Not one moment after the door close did the clan head let out a tired sigh as he sat himself in the chair in-front of the Sandaime's desk.

"I take it the elders have been pestering you about the emissary being sent from Kumogakure?" asked the seeming all knowing old man with a small friendly smile.

The Hyuuga gave another sigh and nodded in confirmation, "Yes." The man looked towards his long-time friend and mentor, "As you know, this will directly affect my daughters." Spoke the Hyuuga with a restrained but worried look.

The Sandaime looked down a little and nodded, "What will you do Hiashi? They are requesting a truce." Though the old war veteran knew better than to think that's all Kumo was looking to get their hands on.

The man now named Hiashi gave another worried look, as this would make things much more difficult. "You and I both know that they will be sending a _capable _emissary to not only try for a treaty, but to see if there is a Byakugan that is unsealed and available to obtain." Another worried look came upon Hiashi as his hands balled into fists at the thought of Kumo trying to steal a member of his family let alone one of his daughters.

"Seeing as how all of the branch family is sealed, that leaves the main branch who consist of either elders, or genin and younger as the next generation is being raised." The Sandaime rubbed his temples as he thought the situation over and saw only disaster as he knew what Kumo was up to. You don't go from mortal and near village lifelong enemies to suddenly want peace in the blink of an eye without suspicion. Needless to say, the Hokage knew for certain that the Raikage had no intention of peace, but rather an easy opportunity to get his hands on kekkei genkai as he was still overly obsessed in making his village powerful after its defeat by the Yondaime himself during the third great ninja war.

Both men took on a grieving look as they both thought the same thing, they would be after one of his daughters given the fact that they both were unsealed and carried the same blood of the clad head, making their abilities probably more than exceptional when compared to the rest of their generation.

"I will have no choice in Hinata's protection, seeing as how her training has begun, she is expected to rely more on herself than her bodyguards as the tradition of the Hyuuga deem the young ones to be strong from an early age. Hanabi however will not leave my side as she isn't under any restriction." Hiashi did not like this at all, rather he loathed and resented it. Being clan head was more of a shackle than freedom when it came to family and clan affairs. Having to make his decisions for the majority, ignoring the individual's side at a cost. Being a true father to his daughters was extremely difficult as he is forced to raise them not as his daughters, but as future clan heirs. Though he was hard on them, he wished he could spend his time with them doing what normal fathers would do, reading their children books, teaching them simple necessities instead of having a servant do it for him. How he longed to just embrace his daughters whole heartedly without care and full of love. They reminded him so much of his wife, Hinata and Hanabi, more so Hinata as she was a near reincarnation of her mother. This made his pain of restraining his love for his daughters all the more torturous as he just wished that they could go about their lives as normal people, normal shinobi. But alas, this was not the case, for they are Hyuuga. Famed for their doujutsu the Byakugan or "all seeing eyes" whose vision could see as far as 10 kilometers when a skilled user focused on long range and when focused on short range, can see through solid objects with x-ray like sight. All Byakugan users can see the chakra network and chakra itself, but skilled users can also see the tenketsu which are the small pressure points in the chakra system that act like checkpoints and guides that allow chakra to flow through the body. The Juuken or "gentle fist" is the Hyuuga's taijutsu style, specifically designed to complement their doujutsu as they use finely tuned chakra strikes to close their enemy's tenketsu and effectively shutting down their chakra system rending them immobilized or dead depending on which tenketsu they hit.

Given that this is a closely guarded ability and style, it would be disastrous for any Byakugan user to fall into the wrong hands. Though it would be tragic for the clan head to lose any of his kin, the main worry in his stressing mind was his daughters who were ripe for the taking.

Nothing noticeable could be done, though the Hokage would not let any in his village fall prey to their enemies and would see to it that a squad of ANBU would tail Hinata in case of a probable abduction attempt. "ANBU will see to it that your daughters are safe Hiashi, family is a precious thing, and one will do anything in their means to protect it." The old man lowered his head a bit as his eyes closed, behind them, images of a certain blonde smiling at him flashing in his head and quickly followed by that fateful night and the bloodied boy he had taken to the hospital once found. Hiashi saw this, and knew what the old man was thinking about. Being one of Hiruzen Sarutobi's people he could truly call friend and be trusted with secrets than a Hokage wouldn't share with anyone else, the old man had discussed this with Hiashi as a consultant for whether or not it was a wise reason to let Naruto into the ninja corps. As a clan head, and as a father still raising his children, Hiashi would have a more individual geared outlook on Naruto when compared to Hiruzen whose occupation of Hokage left no room for thinking and making decisions on just one person alone. Hiashi saw what others would think as a weapon in Naruto's hands, turn out to be a shield for the boy. Being a ninja would not make Naruto any more dangerous than he already was, but instead give him the tools he needs to pick himself up and protect himself. He knew the boy would not harm anyone outside of being an enemy or for self-defense purposes, Hiashi's eyes allowed him to see many things in the village and on a particular occurrence when a few villagers were bad mouthing the boy, alone on a swing set looking down for there was nothing to look up to aside from despite from the villagers, Hiashi didn't see a demon like the other villagers and shinobi

~Flashback~

Most of the time, people would badmouth, threaten, and even attempt to harm the blonde boy. Hiashi saw all of this and despised the villagers who did it. It reminded him of how his own clan treated his eldest daughter Hinata like she was a disgrace to the clan, their sole reason being that she was to be weak as she didn't portray the Hyuuga's strong will and proud demeanor. Instead she was gentle, affectionate, and humble. So caring for a girl her age. All of her traits were opposite of what was desired by the elders for their next clan head. Though to Hiashi, he couldn't have hope for anything different. All of Hinata's traits were that of her mothers. Looks, the way she carried herself, and her gentle nature. To him, she was perfect the way she was and had no desire whatsoever to change her.

Hiashi saw some of the same traits in the boy though in a different light. Naruto had just gotten sent away with the usual claim that he was trying to harm another child by some random parent of some random kid his age.

Nudging a little sway with one of his feet, he sat alone on the swing. It was at this point where Hiashi had been passing by on his way to see the Sandaime for the regular meeting and otherwise sociable night of a few drinks of sake with his old time mentor, when he came across a growing crowd of villagers. Most of them were your average villagers, a few shop owners stood out and even a council member that was hiding towards the back of the crowd. Had he not been paying attention to what the growing mass was saying he would have activated his bloodline limit to see who the council member was but the hushed talking coming from the growing mass was too much and drained all of his attention.

A few of the children were shaking and a few more even showing silent tears as their parents caressed them. Talking was amongst the group of parents and children.

"That damn demon spawn is there, no wonder why my poor baby is scared.."

"I don't understand how the shinobi can let that THING wonder about amongst our children.."

"This is a public park, so why is IT allowed to prowl about here?.."

"The Hokage should just have IT killed, or at least locked up somewhere so that we can sleep at night knowing the DEMON-BRAT is chained up"

Hiashi's temper was starting to rise as the talk amongst the group was growing increasingly grim. He knew whom they were talking about and why they were spouting all their nonsense, but to hear it was something that he just could not stand. He knew who it was that sacrificed himself and the reason why, he was after all on the same squad with the yellow-flash as genin. He also knew that Minato would have these villagers killed for the disrespect and utter disregard for what Naruto had done for them, the burden he had forced on him. He did after all save them not an hour after being born, and from the strongest being in the elemental nations at that. Hiashi had always regretted not being able to help his oldest friend when he needed it most, and from the 5 years since he had cursed himself for not being there for Minato, and would not make the same mistake with his son. Out of respect and honor for his father, and out of duty and responsibility seeing as how it was only expected for Minato's oldest friend to watch over his son as he can only look from where he stood with Kami, Hiashi would do what he could to aid Naruto, as he would not let the most honorable man's he's ever known only son suffer. That, and if Naruto's mom were still alive, the Red-Hot Blooded Habanero would have kicked his ass for taking too long. _Worry not Minato, Kushina. I will be there this time around. _

Having enough time to only take a single step, Hiashi was stopped in his tracks. Gazing at the boy who sat at least 30 meters away from the group that was talking in hushed whispers, the blonde had turned his head and stared directly at the mob. _He heard them? . . That isn't possible. The distance is too great for him to hear even if there is a bit of commotion. Even the wind is blowing a bit. _

Hiashi was in disbelief, but a second look with his doujutsu answered his question. Zooming in on the boy's face, Hiashi found that Naruto's facial expression was that of dread and sorrow, only a deepening frown was shone on his face that seemed to grow with each remark and threat made by the villagers. Visible flinches in his eyes and face took place at each violent threat silently made by the individuals in the group. A flinch for each one, he was hearing every word. _This is your doing isn't it Kyuubi. . Growing since birth with a being as feral as you would prove animalistic features like enhanced senses to be expected. Just how much will you take after your prisoner Naruto? _

As quickly as the changes in Naruto's facial expressions were shifting and flinching, they stopped. And so too did Hiashi's train of thought. The boy was then blank. An almost statue like face now in place rather than the visible emitting face of sorrow. Naruto's dead-panned look left the stoic Hyuuga stare look like it was bad acting. This was not normal. The boy again went through another facial transformation and then had a regular passive face. He slowly stood up with his head looking down, then walked away from the park and into an empty street.

What Hiashi had seen puzzled him and left him with a questioning thought. Was it just remorse on Naruto's behalf, or was it something more? The look that he had on his face was a look not belonging to a 5-yearold. No, his look was something different. His confliction was that it was gone so quick that Hiashi questioned if it had even been real. Hiashi could do and say no more as the crowd dispersed into the park, while on their way spouting remarks of relief and good riddance.

Turning away from the park and hoping that his friend's son would be ok getting home, Hiashi dedicated himself to get to the Hokage's office for that drink of sake. Little would he know that just over a week's time, he would be sharing more than one bottle with his mentor as Hiashi would, by the time of near stumbling back home, add one more to the list of his life's greatest regrets when he would go about the usual catching up of the week's events with his old-time mentor and one of his closest friends.

~End Of Flashback~

Opening his eyes after the recent memory of the missed opportunity to help his deceased best-friend's son, Hiashi took out a bottle of quality sake from a bag that he had brought in with him and poured it into two glasses that were also in the bag and proceeded to hand one to his friend.

No words were needed, for they both were thinking the same thing as they slammed the alcohol down and poured another. They had both failed their closest friends who left their only son in their care. Both Hiashi and Hiruzen knew what the villagers were doing, and both had hell-bent determination to end it. But, there was always a catch. Hiashi had to represent his clan, and Hiruzen had to represent the village and not deal directly with community affairs though the thought sent disgust coursing all throughout his veins. The only one who can change his fate is Naruto himself. Be that as it may, both friends silently vowed to own up to their failures and see to it that all the side noise was dealt with, any little they could do they'd do it without a moment's notice and gain an extra yard if they could. Both friends knew it was what they should do. . What they were meant to do.

* * *

It had been nearly half a day since Naruto opened his eyes after his night was chased away the day before. Being the embodiment of energy that he was, Naruto didn't require much sleep as his body recovered at an inhuman pace and often occupied his time awake at night with staring up at the starlit sky if he felt he wasn't being watched or hunted. Though now he would spend his extra time in a different, more productive manner.

The feeling of a thousand red hot needles covering every centimeter of his body was gone, instead, he felt as if nothing would be able to hurt him again ; all feelings of self-pity and loath being expelled seemingly through the pain of when he was last awake. The first things he noticed aside from his body's feeling of rebirth, the boy noticed something that was appalling to him. Deep inside the hole of which he had fallen in, which must be some type of basement seeing as how there are stairs leading up to where he had fallen in, Naruto could hear something which he shouldn't be able to. . He was listening to the chirping of a common bird that frequented the foliage of Konoha. Since birth, Naruto had realized that aside from his overly adaptive body his senses were unlike any other with the exception of the Inuzuka clan members, a clan of more feral humans than anything else with they're canine companions, but now he was hearing birds from a tree line approximately 20 meters away from the entrance of the shelter he was in. Even if he was only hearing the echo resonating off of the walls, the fact that he could pick up on the ricochet sounds and process them as if he was just underneath the singing bird was nothing short of amazing.

The next thing to reach young Naruto's attention was the scents that he was catching. Yet again, seeing as how he had a rather feral creature sealed inside of him, naturally his body took up specific traits because of that. His sense of smell was not on par with that of an Inuzuka, but now it was more than equal to an Inuzuka at the very least. Seeing as how Naruto's senses were all natural and not chakra enhanced yet, it was safe to say that with practice, he could be one of the finest trackers in Konoha.

Deciding to end the aweing over himself, Naruto thought that it would be wise to figure out just where the hell he had been laid out for the past 18 hours. Expecting to feel a sore that would last for days, Naruto was at first slow to get up but found himself lifting his body from the ground with ease. As if he were a feather. _This is going to take some getting used too. _Thought the astonished blonde as he stood himself up and gazed around the dark room whose source of light came from the opening on-top of the stairs. Though when he looked Naruto found himself having to shield his eyes as he was blinded by the few rays of light that were drifting their way lazily into the room underneath the training ground that he had literally fallen into. _It seems as though even my eye sight is improved. _Naruto thought to himself, **Much of you has improved since the last time you woke kit. **Kurama spoke with a softer tone than what she had originally started off with. _I take it this has to deal with my chakra network evolving? _Asked the boy. **Correct kit. As you already know, the chakra network is linked with every cell in your body. As your chakra system evolved, so too did your body adapt and improve with it. **She answered in a lazy tone as she was lying down in her prison with her nine tails swaying from here to there as carefree as the wind.

Naruto thought it over, _How are my senses so high if I'm not even pumping chakra to my ears, nose, and eyes? _He asked, curious to the phenomenon that would be his everyday body from now on. Kurama breathed easy, **It is as I have told you kit. Your body adapted and evolved a bit to fit to your chakra network having undergone its extraordinary change. Chakra is not needed to reach the senses you have right now because those are their natural state. Though I will teach you how to mold chakra very, very soon. We have much work to be done. **Naruto thought it over and thought that really there wasn't any need for worrying. His body had changed to fit his chakra as his chakra had changed to fit his body, it was perfectly logical to him. **Heheh you even think much more clear and process information very well. **_This is definitely going to take some getting used to._

Looking around his current surrounding that he had been taking refuge in for nearly a day, the first thing Naruto had noticed was the symbol of Konoha on the far-side wall, on the opposite side of the entrance. Looking from here to there, the boy came across canned food, jugs of water, kunai, shuriken, and a whole assortment of weapons and medical supplies. Naruto pressed a hand to the seal on his stomach on the other on the seal on his back. He had fallen into an old war shelter, for the last 18 hours, he had been inside this cave-like underground, changing, his body molding itself into something great. _We'll have some work to do before we can come and stay here often, we wouldn't want people waiting for us in here when we drop in at any given time. _Spoke Naruto, thinking of how he would keep safe and secure his newest found haven. **Everything will be set as soon as your training begins kit. In the meantime, clean yourself up and head to your Hokage. We have matters to discuss.**

Nodding, the blond made his way up the stairs and through the opening, finding that the entrance was completely hidden by an illusion. Looking at it from the inside, it appeared to be a rock surface. **Clever mortals. . A permanent henge. This was without a doubt some type of strong hold or hide out. **Naruto looked it over and thought it to be a very clever move indeed, and would serve as a decent cover until he found a way to better secure what he would soon make into his hide out.

Moving at what seemed to be a normal pace to him, he left many impressed, awed, and disgusted looks behind him as he zig-zagged in and out of crowds and made his way to the roof tops, hopping one building at a time towards his home to cleanse himself of the filth of the past night's chase and to seemingly wash away whatever pity he had for himself that remained on his dirtied brow. Looking back at the war shelter he had stumbled upon, he looked to the Hokage building and to the monument afterwards as he landed on his balcony. He couldn't help but to smile a small almost reassured smile, as he now had a form of purpose and a goal to meet. He wouldn't just protect himself, but the friend that lie within, and the friends he was making outside. Though they weren't completely in his heart yet, he knew it was only a matter of time before he saw them as reasons to lay his life on the line if it meant their safety. Stepping inside, he had put down a black hilted ninjato with silver wrappings, complimented with a simple sheath with a silver metal tip; the tip of both the sheath and hilt having the symbol of Konoha on it. Pulling the blade out, he could see the tiniest scratches on the spine of the blade, signifying that it had been used by shinobi; looking a little more down, he saw that the blade was still sharp enough to cut a strand of string that he let fall on it in half, showing that whoever had been using the weapon, had taken good care of it as the mirror like blade was well kept. He had picked it up from one of the single weapon racks on the far side of the room, it just felt right to him, the weapon being as simple but demanding in both respect and practice for it. Naruto found it to be worth the extra training to master it.

Committing himself to putting it down and taking a shower, Naruto removed his clothing and took a moment to look himself over before entering the steaming bath. Looking at himself, despite the dirt, he found himself turning around to look at the seal on his back in the mirror. _The seal is a reflection of who I am inside huh . . _it hadn't changed much, other than the small fox cub looking depiction, cradling the first half of the yin and yang, the light part, as if it were a pillow. It looked as if the little fox was blocking everything out, but it seemed to Naruto that it was stirring in its sleep, something was waking it. Taking and exhaling a deep breath, he stepped into the shower, and stood in the steam. Content on just listening to the water run, and the sound of it hitting the floor. The steam, enveloping his body and the air around him like warm arms. Yet his favorite was the simple sound of the water hitting the floor.

He rather enjoyed the rain.

* * *

Well there you have it guys, many different interesting happenings and beginnings of great importance. The idea of the seal and the underground fort/hideout will unfold as the story does, but their entirety is too vast to be explained in a short summary so ill leave it up to the story to give you a better idea of what the purpose of the seal and hideout end up becoming. I was going to add more to this chapter but honestly it would've been too long for one and for two the way it would unroll just didn't seem right for me so I'm splitting it up into two parts. So, I hope you all liked it, thank you for your support and reviews, please keep reviewing as every little bit helps especially in the long run, and as usual if you have any comments, questions or concerns please feel free to review them or pm me and ill do my best to answer and absorb positive criticism. Happy reading everyone :)


	5. A Warmth Turning cold

Alrighty, hey everyone next chapter is out :D and sorry for the late update. no excuses just ALOT of shit going on. but I know that almost all of you don't care sooo I wont elaborate hahaha. Anyways, this chapter is going to be the last of the time period where Naruto is 5, there's going to be a time skip in the next chapter that will put him around halfway through the year he becomes a genin. Kind of a big skip I know, but I've already put down all I need too and the story must pick up the pace. most of what I've been doing in these first chapters is sum up what exactly is in Naruto's head and why he will be the way he is when the both the skip happens, and when shit hits the fan. As for the harem development, since they're all still pretty much children, you wont see any real 'relationship' building up until a little after they all become genin and they actually go through puberty and what not. No I'm going to go into detail about that but it'll be there.

Also, Hiashi will NOT be a total douche in this fanfic. He'll be a little hard headed sure but he's not going to be all consumed with the whole Hyuuga pride thing in this one. I debated it and honestly, Naruto needs another friendly figure in this thing, I feel kinda of a dick for already putting him through some shit you know? Anyways, on with the show my flock! :D

* * *

The morning sunrise was rather beautiful when watched as it creeps up over the mountains and trees. Visibly seeing the village light up as if it were in a deep sleep, awakened by the warm-lit glow of the sun. Some might even call a sunrise majestic in a sense. Though no one appreciated a sunrise as much as Naruto. Having spent all night in the mindscape, he was in need of more inspiration of what else to put into it as he had altered it into more of something of Kurama's liking. It was the least he could do after all, she had given him so much. On more than one occasion, his very life. The better part of his time in his mind was spent beginning his training. Though he hadn't gotten the Hokage's permission to train under the Fox's eye, she figured he could get a head start. Literally.

The regime she had him start off with was brutal. He expected nothing less. Seeing as how time went at a fraction of the normal speed in his mindscape, he and his furry tenant had plenty of time to start off his training. Already he was making progress at speeds far beyond the norm, having a level of focus and natural talent for many things as well as the ability to apply it, Naruto quickly found himself able to mold his chakra to his will. His control was nowhere near what Kurama wants it to be, but for a first time user, he had a natural affinity for controlling his chakra. It almost seemed like using a limb for the first time rather than trying to manipulate an actual force. With enough practice and dedication which he was all for, molding chakra would be second nature to him if it wasn't already. His main problem was that he had a tendency to exert too much at a time, a problem easily fixed by focusing on finer points since he had no need to first learn how to release his power. No, his first task would be learning how to control how much to release and then control it everyway shape or form. His first step being far ahead of one his age or one first learning how to master the mysterious force. Though true mastery of chakra was a feat met by a mere handful of mortals throughout the ages of its knowing.

Kurama didn't see a reason to start off his taijutsu training just yet, the boy had a sense for battle having to fight for his life on several occasions. From the Kyuubi's observations, Naruto actually learned and responded in the heat of battle with his life on the line far quicker and far clearer than he did when he practiced. As if it were instincts with an aimed purpose. It was as if the threat on his life brought out movements and reactions that seemed to come from someone else entirely. As far as she knew, she was the only other entity to be living inside the boy, where this phenomenon originated from she did not know. But as it was of no concern to her at the moment, she would let it be as it had not failed him yet. As intrigued as she was with her host's behavior at times, she would observe more and intervene when the time was right.

His body was a little tired, but that surprised more than anything else seeing as how Kurama tested his chakra coils by playing a game of tug-of-war with their chakras. Though she wasn't using nearly her full power. When two chakras attach to one another and pull from the coils themselves, if too much force is exerted it's possible to effectively pull out another's chakra as a hole and take it into your own coils, adding to your own. Seeing as how this would kill her host, she merely tested his strength. Though miniscule in comparison, he gave a surprisingly good fight and never gave up, even at the point of exhaustion until she ended the game. With all the strain put on his coils, exhaustion was the expectation for this morning, so the effect with his already accelerated regeneration (recuperation as a side effect) being doubled from his body's evolution was really showing how much his body had changed. It was almost scary.

For next few minutes he just sat on the top of the Hokage monument, on-top of the Yondaime's head to be exact. Sitting there, and just taking everything in. As if it weren't enough for his to undergo such extraordinary changes, he was still adjusting to the amplification of his senses as well. The sounds of the limitless leaves fluttering gently in the wind. The smell of the forest surrounding Konoha and the bit of forestry behind him. The near blinding light of the orangeish-red glow of the sun as it was still only just breaking the horizon. He felt alive. More so than he ever did before.

Taking in the world around him, he regrettably decided it was time to go and made his way down the stairway leading towards the village he called home. As hateful as it was, the few who knew him and accepted him for who he really was made it all worth it.

He rather enjoyed walking through the empty streets of Konoha, though it sometimes made him even more on guard seeing as how he being the first sight of the day made some of the villagers rather cranky and awarded him an extra shot of hate if it were possible. Glancing lazily from stand to stand in his black shorts and shirt, coupled with his blue sandals, Naruto smoothly made his way through the side streets, the presence of nature having a sort of comfort to him. Walking along, he found himself being watched. How he knew, he had been watched for as long as he could remember, there are only two things that he could not remember. One of them was the first 6 months of him being alive, and the second, his third year of being alive. Why the time gap he didn't know either, but that was neither here nor there as he had a current situation that needed his attention.

Born in October, Naruto was one of the youngest of the bunch though not by much. A jet black boy standing in front of him with a duck like hair style wearing a deep blue coat, bearing the Uchiha symbol on his back with dark tan shorts and blue sandals, was staring Naruto down.

At first, he couldn't care less, but it was what came out of the boy's mouth next that sparked his attention. With a voice as arrogant as a feudal lord, the boy called out as Naruto passed him by, "So you're the Demon?"

Halfway through a step, the blonde abruptly stopped but stayed facing forward, the opposite direction of where the Uchiha boy was leaning up against a tree with his arms folded. "You don't look like any Demon I'd imagine." The boy snorted to add to his taunt.

It was one thing to tolerate ignorant adults who see Naruto as the Kyuubi as they had first-hand experienced her unwilling attack, but it was another thing entirely when one from his generation addressed him as such. "Uchiha Sasuke I take it." Every bit of patients and hesitation gone from his conscience.

Another snort, and a near chuckle sounded before the boy's next sentence, "So it seems even the trash of the village know the name of the great Uchiha." The idea and manor of talking instilled in his brain by the council members that legally adopted him when he was 3. Though truth be told he hated their pampering, but that didn't mean he didn't like getting what he thought was his birth right.

Naruto took a side glance to the boy with a visible smirk of arrogance, "I could smell you're servant wiped nose from a kilometer away."

The boy was taken back from Naruto's response. He had never had anyone talk to him like that before, the most he got in the way of resentment towards him were from the Hyuuga. The two family's had a past of feud as they both possessed great doujutsu. The Byakugan belonging to the Hyuuga, and the Sharingan belonging to the Uchiha. Both were very effective in their areas of expertise but for close quarter's purposes. The Sharingan was the superior as it had the ability to predict the enemy's movements and memorize as well as copy any they made, including jutsu.

With this possible weapon that had to be awakened first, but at his disposal none the less, the young Uchiha indeed thought himself to be above all and only second to the Hokage if they weren't already equals in his mind. To say that he was infuriated by the blonde's insolence in his eyes, was an understatement. "How dare you, you nameless orphan address me, an Uchiha, that way." As if thought out the said Uchiha boy had emphasized his points with hand gestures.

Naruto was already annoyed and needed to meet up with the Hokage to address his business of training to top it off, he had no time for the spoiled brat in-front of him. "I couldn't care less if you were an Uchiha, state your business and leave." The blonde spoke in a monotone voice, though with piercing cold blue eyes that shut the blackish-brown eyed Uchiha for a moment.

Having been audibly silenced for a moment, the raven haired boy regained himself and continued his rant. "Figures, a cowards who runs away from the face of danger wouldn't be able to understand the honor of being in my presence." Sasuke spoke with a smirk of satisfaction. He had been on his way to the old Uchiha District when he came across a glimpse of Naruto being chased by the unknown ninja.

Naruto turned from ice cold to searing hot as he closed the 15 meter gap between the two boys in nearly a second, "How much did you see?!" the burning blonde demanded as he pinned the squirming Sasuke to the tree by his neck with his right hand.

Sasuke struggled. Surprise by the sudden burst of incredible speed and even fearful that it was coming from the 'demon-brat' nonetheless. He grit his teeth and glared at the raging blonde and gave him nothing.

Naruto was at the end of his already exhausted patience and just grew even more infuriated. Growling, he lifted the black-haired boy and off his feet and pulled back just a bit, the growl never leaving the blonde's throat, he slammed him against the tree, sending a few splinters off here and there while making the Uchiha gasp and tear as he asked again in a near savage tone, "WHAT DID YOU SEE?!" the young blonde again asked but more so demanded as he tightened his grip enough for the boy in it to get the point.

Gasping and now crying, Sasuke kicked and frayed but that only proved to make Naruto's grip tighter. Finally he latched onto the blonde's wrist and yelped, "I only saw you being chased!" the boy cried while trying to pry the iron grip open. Naruto just tightened it more as he stared with an almost burning rage, "I SWEAR!"

Digging into Sasuke's eyes, the blonde saw that he was telling the truth. . And nearly pissing his pants. In an instant, he calmed down and released the shaking Uchiha to land hard on his bottom, hitting a large root of the tree with it. Turning on his heel, Naruto dug his hands into his pockets and continued on his way to the Hokage's office, "Thank you for your cooperation." Was the last thing he said before leaving the seething boy behind, and without so much as a second glance.

Sasuke couldn't stand it. He, an Uchiha, had not only been bested by a nobody like Naruto, but had also been made to look like a fool and a coward. He would get Naruto back for this humiliation. . One way or another.

* * *

It had been a rather slow morning once more for one weary Sandaime, so he was prepared for an unexpected issue that concerned the village to pop up as he didn't even have that much paperwork to sort through. A phenomenon much unknown to him. As expected, his village issue arrived at about noon this time, though it was not entirely a village issue directly, and it unexpectedly came from his surrogate grandson who he had not seen since his proclamation become an unbreakable will after his darkest night.

The Hokage and the young Naruto were currently in his office, playing a game of who can stare at each other longer while being in the awkward silence of the century. The clock, hanging high in the corner over a bookshelf on the wall that was adjacent from the door to come in, seemed to count the seconds that were spent in this awkward silence as the two didn't let up. One staring into the others eyes, the blue pair saying 'That's the gist of it' while the older, brown pair of eyes were saying 'you're joking'.

More minutes of awkward silence went between the two, and neither were showing signs of giving way on their stares until the silence was broken by the older of the two. "So let me get this straight." The old Hokage started will lighting up his pipe, "The Kyuubi no Yoko. . ." he pointed at the visible seal on Naruto's bare stomach (he had taken off his shirt to explain the part of where he received Kurama's seal), "Made you HER official companion. . ." he continued as he raised his pointed finger to the boy's eye level while putting extra emphasis on the 'her' as that bit of information was as shocking as the rest he had heard, "And wishes to help you in your training as soon as humanly possible." He finished will releasing a puff a smoke while putting his pointed finger away.

"Not help, she wants to train me. Only her, at least until another teacher is needed for whatever I may have to learn aside from what she will be teaching me." The boy corrected, successful in making the Sandaime's eyebrow rise in a 'Aah, I see' type fashion.

"And you would both like permission to use training ground 23, specifically for the hidden war room underneath it that had been sealed." The old man added, while taking another puff of his pipe.

"Correct." Answered the boy who was growing a tad bit nervous in this current setting. As if he were awaiting a trial.

"Done." Was all that was said as the Sandaime nodded a little in assurance and started putting away his pipe.

". . ." the blonde was waiting in expectance of a falsehood in the answer. Nothing. "That's it?" asked Naruto with an unsure sound to his voice.

"That's it."

"You're kidding"

"No I'm not."

"You're serious?"

"Dead serious."

All throughout the exchange the old man didn't so much as lift his eyes from the pipe he was cleaning and putting away along with the Tabaco and what not. Naruto's eyes never left the Sandaime's as they were occupied with his pipe.

"May I ask why so easily?" The boy was genuinely curious, this wasn't exactly your everyday training regime request. He was literally asking to be allowed permission to be trained by a force of nature demon in a shinobi village that was attacked by the very same demon he was asking on behalf to train him just 5 years prior.

The Sandaime took a second to stop what he was doing and looked Naruto in the eye, and looked as if it were just like any other day during any other conversation, "Simply put, I trust you." A moment passed, "And I found out about what happened the other night." He continued as he finally put the elegant box containing the simple pipe he used and folded his hands with a pleasant half smile. "You didn't think I wouldn't find out about a rogue ninja in my own shinobi village now would you?" he asked as his smile grew to an anime style with a perfect circle blush on his cheeks completed with upside down looking smiling eyes.

"I guess it isn't all that surprising then huh?" Naruto responded while still remaining cautious of his words. He couldn't tell his Jiji everything that had happened. Not yet.

The old man shook his head, reverting back to the pleasant smile. "Let me just ask one thing of you Naruto-kun." The now Grandfather Figure leaned forward a bit, with a half loving, have remorseful face, eyes filled to the brim with a warm light, "Whatever path you're choosing for yourself, I ask that you choose it not in spite for those who may have pushed you onto it, but instead mold your path into what you think is right." The old veteran leaned back into his chair, having said his peace.

Naruto had absorbed the words like a parched sponge, he would not forget them. He nodded a few times to himself, forever embedding them into his mind. He went to say more, but what else could he say, it was all laid out on the table already. Instead he smiled, and hugged his grandfather. "Thank you Jiji." Naruto sounded proudly, and bowed at the waist. His grandfather smiled back and nodded. Giving Naruto the all too familiar shooing hand of dismissal, the young blonde grew a serine smile of one much older than the face it was on. Turning on his heal, he hopped to the balcony and stood on-top of it for a moment, giving one last look and smile back, he then hopped off the balcony, testing out his chakra, and as promised, pumping chakra to his limbs increased their durability and the pressure from the landing was dispersed to nothing as he hit the ground, a little wave of chakra/dust dispersing along with the force of the fall, startling a few passerby's.

Naruto waved them off and apologized, saying that he was just training in case of high falls. He wasn't lying. He started forward and didn't stop until he got to his apartment, he was going to get his equipment and head straight to training ground 23. Today was the official start of his training, and he wouldn't start off poorly.

* * *

"I entrust her in your care Ko." The tall, proud and respected clan head of the Hyuuga stated. Today he was meeting with the emissary from Kumogakure, the village hidden in clouds, and setting the limitations and regulations of his stay in Konoha.

"I will make sure of it Hyuuga-sama." An average height teenage looking Hyuuga replied. A headband over his caged-bird seal, the young man was a part of the branch family, though he was given special attention and respect for his humble and caring nature. He also had nothing but respect for Hiashi's daughters, but the foremost of it being reserved for his eldest, Hinata, as she was a diamond amongst rocks in terms of being a good person. Not to say that the Hyuuga were bad people, but arrogance never has the tendency to breed compassion.

Whenever his daughters were out and about, Ko was always the first choice in who would be accompanying them, but these next few days would be done under his watch without exception. Hiashi trusted no one other than the Sandaime and his younger brother Hizashi with his children aside from Ko. Hizashi being really the only other person aside from his son Neji and Ko a distant cousin to be in Hiashi's book of 'cool Hyuuga'.

Nodding his head and receiving a deep bow from Ko, Hiashi turned on his heal and went to meet the emissary from Kumo. He already had his list of conditions ready, having prepared them the night before.

Ko sighed a bit, worried for his Lord's health as the stress of the current situation couldn't be good. Deciding to let it be, he looked down at his left leg, currently in a death grip by a 4-year old Hinata Hyuuga in an elegant lavender kimono with flower pedals that danced all around the fabric, as if they were being carried by a playful soft breeze. "Come Hinata, let us go for a walk." He gestured with a smile. Young Hinata smiled and nodded happily, always happy to get out of the compound.

The two made their way through the streets, receiving bows of recognition and giving them back. They rather enjoyed walking about the village, and the villagers enjoyed the duo's company as they were the nicest Hyuuga around. The rest expected to be treated as royalty because of their bloodline limit, the Byakugan and their social status of the most respected and powerful clan in the village. When put simply, it would be only natural but the way they went about their arrogance was insulting to the villagers and most were more annoyed by their presence than anything else.

When conversations were held, Ko did the talking, not because Hinata didn't know how to speak (most people questioned) but because she was simply too shy to do so. She was more than happy with taking a back seat and seeing how things unfold with her watching. When she did have enough courage though, her soft and near angelic voice would sound and grab people's attention like a shadow possession jutsu if it came out as anything more than a mumble. Which it never did.

The two Hyuuga had been out for about an hour when they got to training ground 20. This was usually the starting point of their walk around watching the ninja as they trained, mostly because there was an abundance of flowers around this part of the training grounds. Hinata had always been one for flowers and herbs and the like. Ko could already tell that she would have an impressive garden at some point for sure.

They continued along the outskirts of the training grounds until they stumbled upon one that had only one occupant. Not out of the ordinary as many ninja trained alone half of the time, but it was who it was that was off to the side amongst a few trees, and appearing to be practicing with a sword. A Ninjato to be exact. The blonde hair narrowed it down, but when walking closer Ko found that it was in fact Naruto who was in the center of 6 or so trees, slashing at a series of existing slash marks on each tree, one after another and with remarkable accuracy. There were signs of misses but for the most part, the bark from all the slashes in the middle of the marks were all but gone, indicating that Naruto's aim was impressive for one so young with a sword. Each swing either being straight across, diagonal, down or up. Basic moves, but when perfected, variations and technique would follow suit and any changes made during battle could be made flawless and instinct in the hands of an experienced swordsman.

The blade of the Ninjato looked to be about three and a half feet in length minus the hilt which would probably be 5 inches at best in length. While not too heavy, to be wielded by one so young as the blonde before him was questioning as he shouldn't be able to swing it around nearly as easily as he currently was as his speed picked up in-between his strikes. Concentrating his focus on Naruto as he had walked up until about 15 feet away, he noticed something peculiar. He noticed the face of growing anger. Naruto seemed to be visualizing something, and whatever it was, it wasn't anything good as the boy's speed and power was increasing with each stroke as his anger was rising.

Ko had seen Naruto from time to time, but never engaged in conversation. From the times that he had seen the boy, he saw a sad and lonely boy who only wanted a friend to play with. The boy that he was currently watching was someone different. His eyes closed, the boy's face was what was displaying his current emotions. Rage. With each swing, the trees around him seemed to be screaming in agony as the sound of the sword slicing its way through the bark instead of hacking it off was making an odd sound. Most of the time wood would splinter off, but if enough force is exerted with the proper point or edge, and it's possible to cut through with a clean gash with a deep whistling sound. Naruto was doing just that.

It had been well over five minutes of this constant and growing barrage of strikes coming from the little blonde, and it was mesmerizing in the fact that the boy was improving at an alarming rate. As his anger kept rising the pressure in the air grew, Naruto was using his chakra in another test of how he could use it. By the time six minutes hit, Naruto was consistently hitting the same mark in the middle of each tree with all four slashes he had been performing. His speed increasing still and the sound of cleanly cut wood growing louder and faster, he started to throw in different angled strikes than the four, the pressure in the air rising still from his anger. A few seconds and six final swings later, the trees were no more. The edge of his ninjato's blade having a faint hint of red from the friction of all the rapid cuts. Naruto was panting at this point. More so because he had to extinguish his emotions which had no intention of going back down into the lock of Naruto's heart. Slowly, the blonde stood straight, legs shoulder width apart and after taking out a wet rag, wiped the cooled blade of his ninjato, though a little sizzle was heard and steam seen. Wiping it off with a dry rag, he eased the blade into its scabbard fastened to the beltline of his back, the hilt just behind his elbow when standing straight up so it was easily accessible if he needed to make a back held strike.

Breathing calmly, and wiping his face, Naruto turned his enough back enough to see the two Hyuuga staring at him with slightly wide eyes. "How long have you two been there?" he asked nonchalantly.

Ko relaxed a bit but still had a weary look, Hinata just stayed attached to his leg, eyes glazed over and a visible blush on her face as she hid herself behind her caretaker. "About fifteen minutes. ." he began, glancing down at the little Hyuuga who was hiding her face at the moment and giving a small smile, ". . That was quite impressive Naruto-san." He finished with the same small smile, trying to clear up their 20 minute stare. "How long have you been practicing?" taking another glance around the freshly cut down trees. A feat that should've been completed by one his age at least as he had turned 16 a few months back.

Naruto sat down on one of the stumps with one knee up to lean an arm on, "Since first light. . couldn't really stop after I started." He took a look around himself, taking pride in his skill of chopping down trees. "You know my name? I'm honored." He added with a deep nod.

Ko took notice in this, "I know the names of those I deem worthy of knowing Naruto-san." He spoke with an earnest tone, "Speaking of names, forgive me, I am Hyuuga Ko." He bowed respectfully, "And this is Hyuuga Hinata-sama." Though reluctant, and with the assistance of a nudge from Ko, the shy Hyuuga stepped out from her cover of her caretakers leg and bowed deeply with an even deeper blush before returning back to her sanctuary.

Naruto smiled a little, "It's nice to meet you Hyuuga's." he spoke as he got off from his stump seat and bowed, "I don't suppose you two could keep this a secret would you?" he asked, seeing as how he didn't want his training to end the first day it starts because 'the demon-brat' shouldn't be given special training privileges because he could turn on the village. He'd rather avoid the headache of word of his regime getting out and causing his Jiji problems, he had enough to deal with as it is, Naruto thought, old age and all. "I'd get extra attention from a lot of people that I'd rather avoid." He continued as he scratched the back of his head.

Ko knew what he was talking about, "Of course Naruto-san, I understand. ." figuring this was the perfect opportunity for Hinata to make a friend, "Do you think you could let Hinata-sama come here from time to time? She rather likes the peaceful setting." He asked with a full smile and anime style eyes.

Naruto thought it over, figuring this wasn't exactly a barter for him keeping a secret but an actual request. He glanced at the shy Hyuuga and figured it wouldn't be too much trouble introducing her to Ino, she loved making new friends anyway, "If she wants too, she can come whenever she'd like to." Naruto answered with a small smile, nodding at the shy Hyuuga who seemed to radiate blush as the color red seemed to almost go through the white of Ko's ninja robes.

Ko smiled and nodded back, a silent thank you making its way over to Naruto, "Well Hinata-sama, what do you say?" the smile never leaving his face as he turned his body to the side, exposing the blushing girl.

After a moment of complete blush and rubbing her fingers together in a very cute fashion, the voice the likes of which was sweet enough to give even the most bitter coffee flavor sounded at all but a whisper, "U-umm . . Sure. . I-I'd like that very much." If it weren't for Naruto's enhanced hearing, he would've thought she were just mouthing the words, "T-thank you U-Uzumaki-san." She finished as her finger fiddling increased in speed and she blushed even harder.

Naruto's small half smile grew a little, "Just Naruto is fine." His eyes showing no signs of deceit. "You're welcome anytime." A few leaves blowing about the leaves with a warm wind. Very convenient he thought.

The little Hyuuga blushed a few more shades of red (if it were possible) and nodded, not having the capability of saying any more. Ko figured this was as much as she could do today and decided to save her, seeing as how he couldn't exactly let the heir to the Hyuuga clan pass out from embarrassment if he could help it, "Unfortunately, we must be going now Naruto-san. Thank you for your kind gesture, and I hope to see you soon." He concluded, bowing in goodbye and sending a smile.

Naruto sent a small smile of his own, "I'll see you two around." And bowed in return.

The two Hyuuga went on their way, and Naruto figured it was time for the next course in his buffet of new training. How he was loving the new things he was doing instead of just sneaking around all the time fooling the villagers and 'playing' with the ANBU.

Ko and young Hinata spent the rest of the afternoon back at the Hyuuga compound. Ko was indeed very happy today as Hinata was very enthusiastic when she got back to tend to her mother's gardens. She did so every day even after her mother died. He could see the sadness in her eyes whenever she was near or working on them, she missed her mother. But today no sadness was seen while she was humming a small tune to herself and cheerfully plucked this and trimmed that. She had made a friend today. And a rather interesting one at that. Ko felt at ease, he wouldn't have to worry so much about this one, something told him that whatever the future held for the two newly acquainted friends, it was good. And he would be more than happy to make sure that this feeling would come true.

* * *

Upon returning to the village from his recent intense meditative workout/awkward friend making day, Naruto couldn't help but feel as if things were going along too swimmingly. Something had to be coming soon . . . something _had _to be coming soon? Or was that just his mind telling him that nothing good could happen to him without some impairment to his life. . He honestly didn't know. On one hand he could get comfortable and say that maybe some way somehow his luck was finally taking a turn for the better, and on the other hand he could remain on his ever present guard and say that he might as well carry his sword wherever he went from now on because nothing good ever happened to him without a cost. Seeing as how that was literally _always _true, Naruto chose to go with the second notion and be on his guard.

Walking through the streets he grew to love and loath with a fine line that even the eyes of a hawk could never see, the said boy continued to push through the walkways of his all too literal living hell. One would ask how and why he put up with so much on a day to day basis, but then again, when one lived like this for as long as he could vividly and halfway remember, you got used to the stares and glares and were ear numbed to every audible insult that escaped the mouth of a 'regular' passerby in his case.

Only one distinct voice could ever call upon his attention of annoyance when heard, and luck would have that the moment his thoughts took him back to his encounter with a certain grudge bearing Uchiha, the raven haired boy would be summoned to answer his question of what the cost was of a good thing happening for once.

"Uzumaki!" all the present villagers immediately stopped what they were doing to stare at what they hoped was someone from the newer generation finally taking the initiative on dispatching of one 'demon-brat' that they would love to go without.

The said _demon-brat _had no choice but to stop and give a sideways glance as he was sure that the repercussions of just ignoring the wailing runt's call would hold much more of an annoyance than taking the time to hear what he had to say, so, with a 'screw it' fresh in his mind, Naruto turned little more to his side so that barely both shoulders were exposed to the raven-haired pest as he looked over his right shoulder to speak, "What do you want Uchiha?" the last name so despicably revered even more since the runt before him was the only one bearing it had an extra hint of distaste as it left the blonde boys vocal cords.

The distaste noticeable too much of the crowd as they started to gather round to watch what they hoped was going to happen. A grunt of ignorance towards the one who subdued the might-as-well-be royal boy like he was a rag doll, "That ninjato, give it to me." The boy demanded with a face that depicted nothing but hate.

Most of the time when a demand like that was made, questions would be asked. Whose blade was it or why did one want the other's blade. That would be the normal case had it been a _normal _situation. This was far from what most would perceive normal. On one side of the dispute which popped out of inexistence there was the last Uchiha, a clan's only heir and one that had protected the village with an iron fist and eyes that could damn near change history when looked back upon. And on the other hand there was a boy, an orphan boy with no _name _to hold a fair chance with, an orphan who single handedly harbored and received the unfiltered hatred of the better part of half of the village itself for something he had actually _saved _them from. A boy that had no one to call family aside from the friends from a ramen shop and a Hokage with too much on his plate to deal with the finer details of his life and no true place to call home. To say that the need for the undisputed one sidedness of the people was one the said Uchiha's side to be spoken aloud, would be utterly useless.

As if on cue, the whispers of the villagers began.

"What's going on?"

"Did the _demon_ steal that from Uchiha-sama?"

"Why would he need that in the first place?"

"Uchiha-sama would make way more use out of that blade than that brat ever would."

"Uchiha-sama should show IT his place."

The ranting of the crowd bred more and more possibilities of the current situation, each one involving something either injuring or putting ill fortune to the blonde as he stood motionlessly still. The only noticeable moving part of his body, _parts rather_, were his cold as the winter's scorn eyes that scanned the area around him with a look very, very not matching his age's capability for the animosity it was projecting. As if walking straight into a wolf's den. . Though in this particular case it was a fox's den. One with more tails than one. Finally the hunter's eyes fell upon the prey's, and stayed there.

All focus of attention was on the two boys in front of them, amazing in the sense that two not over the age of 5 were able to draw a crowd of 15 in under 3 minutes. Some noticing the growing smirk of the Uchiha boy, the others taking note of the unnerving gaze of the blonde on the other end, standing with the ninjato strapped to his lower back with the hilt tilted to the far right, the perfect spot for easy access should the feral looking child need it.

"Leave." A few that were started looked around at the simplicity of the blonde's choice of words. Though the message did not fall on deaf ears. They all could hear what lie underneath the speech, and the look in the boy's eyes promised nothing but what shouldn't be fathomable from one as young as he. Even the rough of the group who wore headbands, bearing the mark of ninja, took a step back at the shear sight of something they had never seen. A boy with more savagery than the animals of the wild. And all he did was speak a single word, the rest being conveyed through what he was allowing them to see form his outer shell that took the form of his body.

The Uchiha didn't get the hint as he took two steps forward, tugging at the symbolic snakes tail. Though he was invoking tail, or tail(s), they were not of the reptilian nature. "You're ninjato. . ." the boy started, whatever trace of the smirk he had, long since gone, "I want it."

Refusing the warning only sparked a brighter shade of blue as the coldness in his eyes only gained that much more frost in the heartlessness they portrayed. "_Leave_." He repeated, a subtle growl escaped that only one picked up on as the rest had already back up out of range of coherence.

The one on the receiving end of the deathly stare, barely keeping himself from shuttering answered back, "You're ninjato!" fate truly was toying with the blondes fortune, as the last thing he needed approached to stand on both sides of the Uchiha. And with a smile to match the intervening they shared, both had watched the whole thing from the start, and were not about to pass up an opportunity to scrape at their favorite play thing.

"Now, now Uzumaki-kun, Uchiha-sama wishes to borrow your blade. And what a fine specimen indeed, won't you share?" the smug look on their face clearly stated that their supposed _sharing _was really just an order to relinquish the blade he had been training tooth and nail with, the encounter with the assassin being the reason for the rightful payment taking the shape of metal, and etched wood.

The same pigment of the awakening of his ever changing self was then being drawn, with a slow highly pitched grind that only gave more of an idea of how more-than-decent the blade had been originally thought, even by the blonde drawing it, as the sound clearly depicted how sharp the blade really was, and how the metal's quality met with the scabbard that kept it clean from dust. Much can be told about a blade by the simple drawing of it, and that only made the Uchiha want Naruto's even more as he knew the blade would suit him well. With a final cry of release from its pitch black prison, the cry of the blade settled down as it was held in a well-practiced stance, even for a 5-year-old. By a mere glance, the skilled eye could tell that the blade was a natural fit to the blonde as the way he held and moved his body with it had the fluidity of one born to bear the burden of the sword. Though that quickly left the two council members minds as the said boy bared the blade in his stance toward them. The point of the sword in line with his right shoulder while the hilt being held a little past the midpoint of his waist. A very intimidating stance given his size with the addition of his only describable as deathly stare for lack of a better word.

"_Leave. . . NOW!" _the ominous growl only growing more intense as the warning was drown out from a soundly yell to a full on roar by the time he was finished with his last warning, the late in day sunlight glimmering off the blade as he secured his stance's grip.

The crowd had dispersed long before the last warning, having taking noticed of Naruto's disarming and downright frightening stare. The fact that his stare was near animalistic, as if he were a predator warning a neutral being that if provoked any further, there would be bloodshed without remorse. It was the fact that this infernal stare was coming from a child. . But not just any child. A child who had to fight for his very existence since the moment he could manage comprehending the concept of grocery shopping. Every day was a question of whether or not he would choose to hide in some dark shadow until the danger on his life passed, or if he would fight if he had the capability as to maybe prevent further advances on it. All of this was present in the mere ferocity of the boy's stature and nature. And everyone present could see it, all but the only other boy there who wasn't hiding behind an adult. Instead it was the one who was in-between his adopted figures who _happened _to be civilian council members.

If it wasn't enough warning, the two council members thought the boy's warning turned threat to be a bluff and stepped forward. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, two council members who nearly controlled the very voice of the civilian council in its entirety having been ex-ninja and fought alongside Sarutobi Hiruzen no less, their ego was only matched by the amount they abused their power by getting their way this way and that. A well-known fact that members of the civilian council had been indeed been corrupted, but no one knew it was exactly them who were the corrupt. Needless to say, Koharu didn't think twice about reaching for the feral blonde's blade. That was immediately regretted.

With a quick swat with the side of the ninjato, Naruto swatted the old crow's hands away and with another quick movement, slashed his blade to a quick stop just a few shaking inches away from the point between her neck and her shoulder. . A lethal blow had it connected, or rather gashed.

"H-how dare you!" were the only words to be sputtered form her wrinkled mouth before she realized why she was even _allowed _to do so at all when she looked at the image in the frost inducing cold eyes that lay before her house in the blonde child's skull. A Hokage's robe and hat could be seen as if reflected from an ice blue mirror if one ever existed outside the vicinity of the stare that she couldn't rip her eyes from. That was also why she couldn't bring herself to pull away from the boy's gaze. . It was a stare. . A stare that was capable of freezing her very soul in the fear that came from the animosity of the child's aura in front of her. What look would fall upon her if it were an actual glare, a snarl of pure lust for her blood? She never wanted to know if the boy's nature was like this at such a young age.

"That's enough Naruto-kun, be on your way. I'll take it from here." What started off as an almost gentle tone turned to just as much anger as was being directed from the blonde. With a slow and regrettable action of wiping his ninjato, as if saying a mere tap of her flesh was enough to dirty the mirror like blade, the boy took one last look at the three who stood speechless, fearful, downright too paranoid to even tighten their dropping jaws, and with a suppressed growl, exhaled sharply through his nose and straightened himself out.

The boy who's ferocity in mere audible tone had then transformed within seconds into what he had been before, a boy taking a simple stroll through the village. Though not before giving a both respectful, but grateful bow before continuing his journey to who knows where.

Upon his wake, the audience that had seen the sudden theatrical occurrence made their way to leave, but were stopped dead in their tracks as three ANBU had surrounded the area. Their leader, and the crowd's leader as well, took one look at them and grunted the same as the boy did before turning his gaze toward the three nearest to him. One in front and still on one knee from her encounter with a _very _irritated Naruto, and two to his back, one being old and the other ridiculously younger.

"Before you start I'd like to have you know that I both saw _and _heard your exchange with Uzumaki-kun. Now, what do you have to say?" It was easy to see the irritation and quite frankly disgust in both the Hokage's voice and glare. To think that two of the most respected villagers let alone council members had tried to punk a child for one so greedy as the Uchiha with their social status. The act set his blood afire.

Scrambling to her feet, she began with a few sputters of nonsense, apparently speaking normally was a bit difficult at the moment. "H-hokage-sa . . H-he I mean. . you see?!" frantically searching for a way out of her current situation. Having no time to react to the boys actions and the Hokage's sudden appearance, Homura was speechless to the point where he was just standing, gazing at what had just transpired. The Uchiha that was the start of it all was just as dumbfounded.

"No Koharu I don't see. What I _did _see however was two council members attempting to slew away a civilian's property for the sake of sating a spoiled child's ridiculous tantrum of desire with your position of power." The Sandaime spoke with authority enough to send whoever had been in earshot to their knees in a bow of submissive and total attention to their protector and _sole _leader. "So tell me, what exactly did you think gave you the right to 'share' Uzumaki-kun's property?"

The two council members were at a loss for words when suddenly a thought dawned on Homura, finally able to make himself useful in the current predicament, "The boy had no reason to be carrying such a weapon on his person. He is not a ninja and certainly not permitted to carry it on him about as if he were." He spoke without a sliver of doubt in his accusation. The look of 'you fool' being sent him by the Sandaime followed by Koharu who had just realized what they had gotten themselves into, sent a long since forgotten chill up his spine.

Then it hit him, and quite literally so. A small scroll stamped by the same symbol upon the Sandaime's hat and robes. Opening it within view of the crowd and now Koharu as she shuffled toward the mystery paper, both looked as if they had been wearing a hat with 'dunce' written all over it for a whole day as they read the contents of the scroll.

"As of yesterday Naruto has exclusive permission to train as to accommodate his special 'condition' and to better his 'quality of life'." The harshness of his voice slapped them across the face with its venom. That had been what the scroll on the Uzumaki kid had been about. They usually burned whatever contained _its' _name before they even comprehended any writings with _its' name_. Needless to say, they wouldn't make the same mistake again.

The old man had shut up the old duo rather effectively. The only annoyance now was the spoiled child he had mentioned not a moment before.

"Why does that trash get special treatment and not me, the Last Uchiha?!" the said Boy was furious that the 'demon' had been given an opportunity to get a head start on the path of ninja even before he. That right was his, at least it was in _his_ mind. That sudden burst of arrogant induced bravery was soon lost when a sharp flux of chakra had flared, sending the audience back into respectful obedience.

"Firstly _boy_, Uzumaki-kun is NOT trash as you so put it. He is the same as any other boy and yet so much more that your little mind cannot comprehend it." He began, staring down the quivering boy into submission, "And as for the rest of you, need I remind you why you even BREATH TODAY?! Your impudence has gone for far too long, and I will have him know peace!" the sheer force of his chakra flares had them without a doubt, rethinking their treatment toward the boy that had left with the same fear striking impression as their Hokage was instilling in them that very moment.

Signaling for his ANBU to return to their hidden positions, he again addressed the audience before him. "Best you learn from this day, as I will NOT be as lenient for these actions against an INNOCENT CIVILIAN of KONOHA!" the address having been made, he needed to spend no more time as he had to prepare for Naruto's next visit whenever that may be. "Be gone from my sight." A low growling command of their leader was all it took for the crowd of at least 15 not including the three that were closest to disperse in a fashion that could only be matched by an exodus. Having done what he had set out to do, the tired but undoubtedly enraged Hokage made his way to his office and home not soon enough after leaving the scene. He would have a word with Naruto, something still had to be done about his control. For had he not made himself _visible _to the boy, he had absolutely no doubt in his mind, as much as it scared him, that the he would have killed Koharu without hesitation.

Whatever the Kyuubi was doing with him was working, the results were present as he watched him control his rage during training and even playing like a _normal _child his age should through his all-seeing crystal ball. But when put into a corner, either man-made or made _from _man, the boy did not hesitate to do what he had to too ensure that nothing happened to him in any way, shape or form. The fact that he was so easily able to do so was what scared him. He was not even a genin yet, or even _in _the ninja academy at that. What was coursing through the old man's tired mind was what would become of his surrogate grandson when he was a ninja.

Slipping into his bed, remnants of daylight or not, he was drained. His thoughts kept drifting to the little blonde who had went from the orange and yellow spark, to the yellow haired but blue eyed martyr. He knew he was by no means a threat to anyone, but when provoked and forced to protect himself, he couldn't help but wonder how much he would develop if he was already at the level he was at _this young of age. _It was truly scaring the veteran of wars. He had seen that look before. He had seen it so many times he needed not even his eyes to be open to feel that gaze that was on his surrogate grandson's eyes. It was the look of one who had been through far too hardships. It was the look of one who had to do what he or she had to too survive. It was the look of one who did what he _wasn't _ordered to do and resented himself for it.

It was hate.

* * *

It had been a very, _very _long walk back to a particular blonde's apartment. How he managed to make it back without so much as a glance to the bigots that were sneering at his presence and threatening every which word they could muster was a mystery better left unsolved lest it wear off and he slashes through all in his path.

Upon entering his apartment, another trap had been set. Moving his head slightly to the left and turning his body with it, two kunai aimed for where his head would be sailed by along with another, very poor in quality ninjato, springing forward in an attempt to slash his body as well. Looking at the intricacy of the supposed trap, it was made half-ass, he could tell. The fact that he was able to hear it go off louder than he would have had it been properly set (he would have heard it either way, but it still bothered him) and the way the strings and what not were woven, it looked like someone had come by and literally set it up in two minutes. They didn't even have enough respect for him as to set a proper trap for him. Gritting his teeth, he picked up the components and put them to store in his closet, upon opening it a treasure trove of ninja wire, kunai, shuriken and the like were revealed as he threw in the newest additions.

Stepping back from the closet, he felt it coming. The hatred creeping into his little cold heart. With his breathing rapidly picking up in pace, and his hearing all but gone from the rage that was consuming him, Naruto turning to the thrashing tailed beast within him. _I don't suppose you have a way to keep this quiet? _He spoke in his mind as the whisker marks on his face grew more and more defined and even spread. Eyes taking on a slit in the middle of his darkening blue eyes. **Place your hand on the floor kit, I shall do the rest.**

Without hesitation, he did as what his teacher instructed, and within a second his entire interior of his apartment and possibly the complex itself, was covered in ancient kanji that at the moment he had no intention of paying any mind too. **No one will know of what transpires here. Sate your fury kit. . **And with that, Naruto did not have to be told twice as he roared while an all too familiar seemingly living cloak of blood red chakra enveloped him and thrashed about his body. The pressure in the room had risen three fold as a result, the presence of the chakra and even the signature of it was not leaving the room, and the people passing by the rundown apartment complex had no clue of what was happening inside. Though they may have gotten a not too light chill down their spine, they heard and felt nothing.

Inside the apartment however, the boy was thrashing and beating, clawing and gnawing on anything he could get his hands on. The cloak just expanded the more he ravaged his apartment. Hopping from wall to wall, hacking into each with his extended pearl white claws, he left a trail of his built up animosity everywhere he went. The actions of the little boy were not one of a tantrum of one his age, but of excruciating release of hatred for the place that he lived in, as much as he loved his village, its people on the other hand, were not on his friendly list.

His demonic eyes never stopped darting from here to there, searching for prey to hunt as he ravaged each of the villagers that had ever done him wrong faces that appeared in his walls. Imaginary eyes were gauged out, throats gashed, bodies slashed into pieces. The interior of his apartment was littered with evidence of his rage as it looked like it had been attacked by a creature with the ferocity of something that would tear apart an on looker if he or she so much as blinked at him wrong. The scary part is, that's exactly what happened. As much tame as Naruto may have on himself, he needed somewhere to deposit his anger, and what better place than the hell hole that he lived in, despite it being one of his only sanctuaries.

The inferno like cloak never receded, but instead grew as Naruto gave one last roar. Most children are 'trained' from the time they can crawl that anger is bad and you shouldn't harbor it. Most parents teach their children and in the same sense, put a mental cage on all the primal parts of their child minds. A child's mind is a scary thing when it has no such limitations on it, things like "hurting people is bad" or "Use your words not your fists" were oblivious to Naruto. He had no parents. He had no family. The only people that cared for him were two humble ramen shop owners who only had the time to teach him the necessities of reading, writing, and counting with a few morals on the side, and an old man whose occupation of Hokage left only enough time to really just give him the money that he needed to buy things.

This was okay for Naruto though, he harbored them no ill will in the slightest. In fact, he was forever indebted to them. For if not for them, he would be doing this to the entire village instead of his apartment. The inferno of the Kyuubi's chakra kept expanding as Naruto's uninhibited mind was circling with hate. It grew to the point of consuming the entire inside of his apartment in the deadly chakra. Everywhere he looked, he saw red. In the broken mirror of his bathroom, he saw read. On the ceiling and on the walls he saw red. On the floor, in the very air he saw red. His hatred had filled the room. A scary thing, a child's mind is when left to develop on its own without the limitations of morals taught to keep them in a manageable state in society. A child's mind without guidance was capable of either the most wonderful things the world has ever known with its pure intentions, or it was capable of nightmares if thrown into the pit of despair where all the child knows is pain and suffering. Naruto had his fair share of suffering, and had visited the hospital for wounds inflicted upon him more times than he could count.

Breathing in the breath he had exhausted, He roared one last time before the chakra threatened to break the walls of the seal if it were to spread any more, and in the blink of an eye, the chakra returned to its origin, only to leave an aura around the boy who had released it as he dropped to his knees.

Taking deep and slowing breaths, He looked at the hands that bared no marks of the tearing into of his apartment that he had just commenced. There were traces of blood on his fingers and palms, but no wounds to show where it had come from. There were stains on the walls and inside all the gashes of where his claws had gone to work. He had healed every time. Evidence of the demon that was within him. His breaths now shallow, slow and steady, the boy slumped over a bit, and dropped to his side. Within seconds, asleep.

The slowly shifting aura of demonic chakra never leaving him, instead, keeping him warm. _**You did well kit. . You did well. Sleep now, tomorrow, we start the change.**_

Kurama had kept silent, knowing of the child's need for release. His mind, tired from the torment of the villagers. All the unseen and unheard stomps on his life and peace of mind. All the harm done to him.

He needed the shackle loosened, even if for only a bit.

* * *

Ook well, that's about it for this chapter. A little bit of a dark ending but hey, not everything is peachy in life now is it? As for the whole thing about Naruto 'learning' in battle and what not, it's not so much that he learns better per-say, it just comes more naturally to him. Instincts basically. As for the 'other person' like responses, I wont give anything away for that since that wont be revealed until way, WAY way way later on in the story, but the idea of how its employed came from a book I read by Bruce Lee, there was a part in it that said that the perfect mind in combat is no mind at all but instead using your body in-tune as a mind in itself. I thought that was just brilliant and since Bruce Lee has always been one of my inspirations for many of the things I view and write because of his philosophies, I figured why not make some of his ideals my own as he intended to share them all when he wrote them.

Anyway that's just me rambling, in regards to Hinata, no, Ko isn't going to play cupid. . much, but he does recognize the purity of Naruto's heart, even if he cant see the coldness in it at times. I've always seen Ko as a guiding spirit, even in his very small parts in the manga, and id like to give him some justice. Aside from that, next chapter will be the time skip, a few more developments and away we go.

Thank you for your reading, please review as it helps improve the story to both mine and yours (the readers) liking, and the next chapter should be out sooner than this one came out. If I run into any delays, ill post an update informing you all of my progress. Happy reading my friends


	6. The Bleeding, The Hunt, The Kill

Ok, so firstly I'd like to take the time to thank the following fanfiction members who have graciously helped me out and really just been really good pals and a godsend for both the development of this chapter, and how I'm going to be molding the story from here on out. The following members of fanfiction shall receive the highest honor in my court for their most grateful assistance, a solemn thank you and shoulder to lean on if need be. . also exclusive insight into what I have planned for this story but that's another thing all together so anyways, cook563 for the idea that sparked the inspiration for this whole massive chapter,Adjuster for doing what his name implies and helping me see and fix a few things, , And last but absolutely by no or any means least, Foolish Little Brother for his incredible help over the past week and a half or so and just all around being an absolute godsend for this story and how im going to be gearing it from now on. I hope I did you some justice with this chapter and took your advice and made it longer than my usual size. . even if its three times the normal length, hey I gotta start somewhere lol they wont always be this big, only when a bunch of stuff is happening at the same time and I see no need to break it up into parts :D anyways, you will see a lot of plot development and many more hints to future events and a really big look into the mind of Naruto in this chapter. ill warn you right now, the idea about the bleeding scars (which you'll read very soon) is not a burn from seikon no qwaser. . just wanna make that clear right now. the only thing I really did take from that is that the scars are associated with emotion, but if you think about it, and once you read this chapter, that's really the only way it could've went down an I can honestly say I wouldn't have it any other way. also, there is gore in this chapter, and if you're against hunting, don't read this chapter because Naruto kills a deer while hunting, and before you guys review about how he's too young to kill anything 1. he's been living with a demon whose the embodiment of rage since he was like. . born. 2. hes not your normal kid who was raised by parents who told him its bad to kill things, he's had mentoring from Teuchi sure, but he really doesn't have too many moral boundaries. and 3. he'll vent anger through fighting, that's a given. . so yeah oh and be prepared to absorb A LOT of info on my interpretation of how chakra works and the like. . aside from that, on with the show my friends :D oh and the txt may get a little confusing so here's a refresher. _Italics is anything important or being emphasized._ **Bold without "" is Kurama talking in naruto's mind, bold with "" Is naruto talking out loud while he's using a lot of Kurama's chakra/really angry.** _Italics with ' are thoughts, italics with " " is naruto talking when he's using Kurama's chakra/angry but not like completely rage mode. _you'll be able to tell the difference pssh im sure, anyways onward!

* * *

All about the boy's arms and legs the symbol-like cuts shrouded his body. The only parts left untouched being his bottom, genital area and the part of his back already occupied by Kurama's seal, as well as the seal that kept her imprisoned within him. Naruto began to tremble, the pain in his subconscious beginning to overwhelm him, just as the trembling and shifting started, his whimpers turned to whispers, "N-no. . leave. . her. . ." as he whispered, Kurama began to stir herself, opening her eyes slowly as she realized what was going on with her kit, "N-not her. . Me. ." The nightmare finally becoming too much, Naruto screamed himself awake, " AAIYUUUUU!" springing from the floor he had passed out on the night before, his eyes now red and demonically enhanced in both ability and appearance with the tell-tailed slit of the fox within, his finger nails turned back into the pearly white, thick and incredibly sharp claws. Scampering around in circles, reversing in direction every few shuffles like a caged and frenzied animal, Naruto scanned the room for whatever monstrosities he had seen in his dream. Fangs barred, and red flame-like chakra encircling him from the abdomen out, He crouched down in the center of the room as would a tiger, ready to lash out at anything coming within sight or reach.

**NARUTO? NARUTO! KIT WHATS GOING ON?! **Kurama desperately tried to gather information from her crazed container. **NARUTO WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!**

Stopping his scan of the area _he _was seeing, he settled to a readied stance of sitting on his haunches, as would his foxy counterpart, and blinked his eyes. Out of breath from both the roaring of the name he had screamed when he awoke, and of the high-speed adrenaline induced fight-or-flight assessment of his room, Naruto finally began taking deep shuttering gulps of air to calm his breathing and to slow his racing, thundering heart.

Figuring he would explain to her what had happened and maybe why his mystery cuts weren't healing, Kurama reluctantly but patiently waited for her kit to calm himself into a more coherent state. Still breathing hard, and undeniably shaken, Naruto managed to calm himself to a stable level. The whipping infernal flames of his and Kurama's chakra settling to the gentle licks of that of a fire in slow-motion. Blood still dripping from the many wounds that mysteriously appeared form nowhere, as if an invisible force had made the many symbol-like incisions to his skin.

Naruto stood motionlessly still for what seemed like the better part of five minutes before shaking his head and letting a few stray tears escape the confinements of his eyes. With a few mind-concentrated seconds of purging himself of as much of the hate, pain, and regret from his body, the cuts along his body aside from the ones around his left eye slowed in bleeding. In seconds they had gone from bleeding a good amount of blood to none and in but a few more they were closing and ultimately gone, leaving behind no evidence that they had ever existed aside from the dried blood in their place. One emotion remained, though really it was two laced into one. But when separated, were one in the same. The first, vengeance, the second, _fear. _When confronted with something you are powerless against no matter how hard you try to stop it, whatever holds you so weak, you naturally grow to fear it. When the fear becomes great enough, vengeance is born to push you past it and vanquish whatever is the cause of the fear so you can never again be held by its grasp, and with any luck, prevent it from ever happening again as a whole. At least true vengeance is what that applies to anyway, and it was these last two emotions that Naruto had to throw chains on and crank back into the abyss of his heart, and lock away. As soon as he did so, the symbolic cuts on and around his eye followed suit with the rest, closing and leaving behind no trace as did the others. His healing leaving no scars. Well. . None visible anyway.

With the ghostly bleeding scars now hidden once more, Naruto leaned back against the back wall of his living room, the gashes he had made in it and his apartment now coming back to memory as he had at first wondered what had made them. His left knee brought up to support his arm as he wiped the blood and sweat from his fore head while his left leg remained relatively straight while a little bent inward, his right hand resting to his hide.

Quiet. . only the quiet remained in the room along with the subtle shuttering breaths taken by the little fox while the great one began her questioning. Though in a much more soothing tone now. . Almost like how a mother would after her child had a bad dream.

**Kit?. . Naruto?** The familiarity shared between the two bound, and yet separate life forces brought a comforting warmth to the both mentally, and physically exhausted boy as he brought in one more breath before sighing.

". .Yeah?" not bothering to keep his speaking with his tenant in his mind, there was no one around. . and it felt like he was talking to someone close to him, not just inside of him.

The gesture catching the kitsune off guard a tad, **What was that? **The sincerity of concern for him showed in her voice. Even through the cloak of her godly power-emitting deep voice.

He felt her tug at his mind a bit, inviting him to _their _mindscape, but decided to stay within his own realm for now. He figured that if whatever he focused on enough in his mind while he was in there would actually form, he wouldn't take the chance. . Not yet. She meant well, and he really appreciated it, but he couldn't go there while _the dream_ was still fresh in his mind. . He _couldn't. "_Just a bad dream Kurama. . thank you though." Sensing that she was trying to help him with whatever it was that had just happened. He couldn't let her though. . it was his problem. . His fault. . His own demon. . His _terror_.

Kurama knew he didn't want to talk about whatever it was he had seen in his nightmare. She wasn't stupid, she was a couple-thousand year old demon after all. Though she knew it had to do with the point before she had connected with his chakra, before she worked to connect their consciousness's/minds. They hadn't always been connected, and therefore, she didn't share all of his memories. In fact she could only reach back to where he had arrived back in Konoha via waking up behind the ramen stand which was now one of his only refuges. She knew he had been born in the village, all the conversations she could recall confirmed that. How he wound up there with all the injuries he had was a mystery to her. Another mystery was just how far back he could remember, his near perfect memory and memorization capability alarmingly almost instantaneous made guessing how much he really could recall of his even earlier years impossible. He could remember none of it. . Or he could remember all of it. All she knew was that he had experienced something beyond horrors before she had started fusing them together. And he wasn't even able to talk about it.

Knowing he wouldn't tell her about his dream, she chose to target details. **Why couldn't I heal your wounds Naruto? They weren't normal. . What were they? **As far as she knew, she could heal anything but a new limb with Naruto's capabilities. . Yet something about those cuts had her feeling weary. It was almost like his body was rejecting the healing, or even his subconscious may had been what had negated his healing to allow the inscription-like cuts to remain on his body. But why?

Looking at his hands as if they were still covered in dripping blood rather than drying, he answered in a low, despair filled tone of pain, "Scars of the past." He dropped his hands until his left was once again supported by his knee and the other lay at his side just as it had before. He leaned his head back against the wall, it was cool.

_**A rather cryptic answer for a child so young. . How far back can he remember? **_Thinking over what her next questions would be, she contemplated for a moment. She knew she had a limited set of questions she could ask, and even fewer responses from what she was gathering, there was indeed parts of her vessel that even she did not know. It had never dawned on her to ask how much of his life he actually knew, they just went right along casually after they had signed the contract. She was actually feeling guilty now. Then, there was something that sparked her interest even more, one that she wanted to whip herself with her tail for not noticing right off of the bat. He had screamed a name as he woke. Deciding that was the best thing she could ask at this moment, she swirled her chakra around his torso, an embrace of sorts as he was still in his world, not hers. **Who is Aiyu? '**_**Seems like a name a child would give to someone as a nickname in place of the real one. . Perhaps he cannot pronounce it. But that doesn't seem right, he speaks perfectly. . No. . . This is a child's way of cementing a person in their memory.' **_Kurama thought after she asked her question. This was a trauma of some sort that Naruto had experienced in his very early years. It amazed her. . And more incredibly than that. . Scared her. How could she be scared? Locked in a mortal or not, she was a demon for crying out loud! A force of nature in the most literal sense feasible. Was it that her instincts were kicking in to not only care for the kit after making the bond but to worry for him as a parent would? She was so focused on her self-questioning that she almost winced when he began to get up from the ground.

Picking himself up, he could feel those feelings coming back to him, and his skin was starting to burn where the seeming invisible scars were waiting for his emotions to rise enough to where they could bleed again. His heart felt like daggers were being stabbed and scrapped all around it. But he didn't even flinch at it. He had felt worse. Much. . Much worse.

**Naruto? **She couldn't feel or hear what was going through his head, she could only feel the pain in his heart. The mind and the body were two separate things, and he had shut his mind off from her reach. She took this as a defense mechanism, and respected his space.

He had taken only three steps before stopping at her address to his name. He had hoped she would leave the subject alone, but knew that her growing concern wouldn't. If he wasn't remembering past horrors, he would have smiled a little, perhaps this was what having a parent felt like. But, the terror of his nightmarish flashback was fresh on his mind, and he couldn't feel anything but the pain and tremble of his heart. Dropping his head a bit, and with the most pained, tortured and regretful voice she had heard in a very, _very_ long time, he answered her question, ". . . Someone I couldn't save."

If the way his voiced portrayed every tormented emotion in his answer didn't surprise her, what he had said did. And she was speechless, but one of her suspicions was confirmed.

As if leaving a battlefield after being in it for far too long, Naruto headed into his claw-marked shower, to wash off the blood of his horrors. Not another word was said as he cleansed himself of his nightmare. Not another word was said as his heart froze even more than it already was.

All the while, Kurama was going over what she had learned in her head. Having over three thousand years of life-experience under her belt, she was very good at putting things together. And from what she could gather, it all made sense. The ferocity of which Naruto reacted to potential life-altering, let alone life-threatening situations correlated with his actions this late night/early morning and from what she could work off of the bits of what he had dreamt about. He had been at some point in time before his current age, captured and tortured in ways she may or may not imagine. Humans could be crueler than that of the demonae if given enough imagination to do so. His mannerisms and behavior when it comes to friends and what he would consider family that he had, gestured that his mentality towards their wellbeing was built of off past traumas. It was only a matter of time before a villager said or did the wrong thing to someone that he holds close to him while he's around for something bad to happen.

His insecurity when it comes to making, and impressing friends also fit the description of the fear of losing another person he holds dear to him, what he had said to her cemented that hypothesis in her mind. _**'Someone I couldn't save.' **_She repeated in her mind. All throughout her years of existence, she had seen many things, many wars, much of death. And it wasn't uncommon for a child to react in ways that would surprise the grown mortals or even be the reason why they even survived. In some instances, she had seen children, _children,_ stand firm in the face of danger and attempt to protect loved ones be it in the form of support, or even acts of literal self-defense. When pushed to the brink of walking the line of death or survival, sometimes it is the young and unimpaired of morality and lessons who react in the instinctual fight for life, be it in the smallest or largest ways possible in the stead of those who are grown.

Kurama thought to herself that Naruto fit the bill of those rare children who would fight for survival off of pure instinct and even protect others with room to spare. That's not adding the fact that he had her within him. If pushed, whether their minds were linked or not, he could have called upon her power at some point. She had felt pulls on her power before, and even gave some just to humor the pulls, figuring that it had something to deal with the seal placed to keep her locked away, and wasn't about to give it a reason to tighten up on her. It isn't farfetched to say that maybe this nightmare, those 'bleeding scars' and that name he screamed were connected to those pulls on her power almost two years ago.

With his behavior studied, it also made sense of his intellectual and emotional states. If he was capable of those type of emotions and traumas, along with his memory and ability to memorize things on near sheer will and effort. Then it could only mean one thing. He could remember his life perhaps to the point of consciousness. This revelation put every point into perspective and filled in puzzle pieces that were missing to that of just _who_ was her container and just _what _he was and could be capable of. If he could remember back to when his mind had barely formed, that meant that mentally, he was at least double his age. The mind learns more and more as it develops and eventually slows, meaning that since he is 5 right now, that means he has been learning and soaking up and memorizing anything he had experienced up until this point of time. Mentally, he was nearly a pre-teen in terms of life experience. How else could he have survived until this point?!

Having learned something that of fictional stories about her vessel, Kurama found herself rethinking her training regime. Now she knew the true reason to why he was so compelled to become a force of nature, and now armed with this new found knowledge of her kit, she would train him at the speed and capacity he was truly capable of. _**'He will be more than twice the level of anyone in his generation!'**_ were her only thoughts as her container exited his shower after almost an hour of just sitting in the steam and watching his blood wash down the drain of his shower in a crimson mini-cyclone.

Putting on all black sweats, shirt, sandals, and jacket at Kurama's recommendation, Naruto set out to his hidden home away-from-home to retrieve supplies for the next couple days. He was going to do a week long 'camping out' weapons and chakra training session while traveling from one training ground to another. If there was one thing he was good at, and one thing that he learned the best while under its influence, it was survival. And that's exactly what the great fox was going to have him do. The disturbing part was, that's exactly what Naruto wanted to do.

Taking out his ninjato for a quick inspection, he took off his shirt and jacket and faced away from the withered mirror in his bathroom, while turning the blade of his sword to where he could see the flat side of it as he held it sideways. Looking at the reflection of his back from the reflections of the flawless blade, he saw how his soul was depicted from the intricate blood seal on his back in-between his shoulders. Aside from the original tribal yin-and-yang he saw that now the little fox on the dark Side of the yin-and-yang was now sitting on its haunches, in a snarling and defensive looking posture. Its tail flaring straight up and out in both alertness and aggression.

Naruto let out a slight exhale of air through his nose in the stead of a nod. _'You weren't joking when you said the seal was a reflection of me.' _The much bigger fox within him only nodding in response. Putting his shirt and jacket back on, followed by his ninjato on his lower back leaning downward to where the hilt lay behind (or over depending on how you looked at him) his bottom, where he could just reach down and quickly draw his blade in a reverse-held slash, Naruto then set out to get the rest of his gear for the approaching week of training.

Wanting to distract himself from the images of the nightmare he had relived just two hours before. He himself couldn't remember what had happened, only images. He figured he tried to make himself forget and succeeded. The only things he could remember without the suppressed emotions returning were a necklace with a small fang as the jewelry, yellow monstrous eyes, and the pained screams of a girl. He couldn't even think her name in his mind without the invisible scars threatening to open along with the bits of memory of what had happened.

Locking up his apartment and heading off to the hokage tower to inform his Jiji of the change in his training, Naruto looked back at his apartment. It had a dark feel to it now. As if something had died in it and hadn't moved on. . Lingering within its walls, threatening to engulf any who dare go near. He rather liked the new feel to it.

It would keep the villagers out of his apartment for a while.

* * *

Settling down in training ground 23, Naruto picked what weapon he was going to train with first. He had an easy enough time altering his privileges with the Hokage, it seemed like he knew what on the boys mind. His determination at least. The only headache of the exchange was requesting the old man for an increase in his allowance so he could begin eating better to improve his body's nutrition. When he caught wind of his 'demon-tax' hell was immediately brought to the shops he named off and a fair, if not, discounted price was deemed at every shop he asked for and stamped with the Hokage's symbol for confirmation. His allowance was more than enough for the necessities of a five year-old after all. He was set for 3 days of high protein and healthy food ranging from salads to high quality meats. Naruto thanked his Jiji many times as he had gone with him personally to ensure of the new prices for him. One less worry for the both of them.

He had gotten to the training ground a little later than he wanted since he had stopped by Ino's to tell her he wouldn't be able to see her or his other two friends until the next week due to personal reasons, though with a pout of sadness she complied and had even given him a few rice balls that she had made and sent him off with a hug. She truly was a nice girl.

Deciding to start off with his ninjato, which was beginning to become an extension of his arm at this point, he started going through a few katas his tenant had shown him in his mind. Having seen many if not nearly all forms of techniques of anything you could think of over her thousands of years lifespan, she picked out a few styles that she thought would suit him well enough to learn the basics of his swordsmanship and taijutsu before he could make one of his own or adapt one to him.

His current kenjutsu style had no name, but it was rather complimenting for the blonde. It focused on quick and efficient movements that flowed in a somewhat circular motion to both relatively conserve energy and maximize the energy used in each strike. When focused, the boy could manipulate his strikes with relative ease and change the direction of his strikes and even switch from attacking to defending with astounding speed, making use of the semi-circular and easily manipulative motions of his style. Each strike flows into and with the next while defending was the same minus the sweeping movements for attacking. When defending all Naruto had to do was move the hilt which was held close to his body in rapid swirling motions, the blade cyclones around his body in a near-complete cover of him provides excellent and a near perfect defense since the possibilities for countering were looking very promising. He took to calling it The Whirling Blade, the name coming from the way the sword attacks and defends in a spinning or circling motion, similar to how a tornado spins or how the water in a whirlpool cyclones endlessly as it nears the center.

Twirling the blade itself or even spinning his body at times, it was an extremely effective, quick, and aggressive style that combined attacking and defending at the same time. Any openings could be quickly guarded with the manipulation of a strike or of a guarding movement with the user's body. The only drawback to this style was that it required relentless movement, speed of movement, and strength behind each motion. Though his body was a bit malnourished and underdeveloped from his poor diet up until now, with his naturally adept stamina, strength, and chakra coupled with his level of focus and instincts, Naruto made up for the needing repair of his body with sheer ability and will to use it.

All the while of going through his katas and being so focused on them, Naruto hardly noticed that he wasn't alone on the training field and while halfway through one of his final strikes, he quickly whipped around and finished the kata with a guard. Finishing in a wide-legged stance with the blade of his ninjato going across his body with the tip towards the ground and the hilt a few inches away from the right side of his face, guarding his front in preparation for executing a counter. A very impressive execution of skill from that of a learning child.

Clapping could be heard from a little ways away, the tall for his age young Hyuuga applauded Naruto for his performance for he was astounded by what he had saw. It was clear to him that Naruto would become something along the lines of a weapons expert if he kept this pace up, "Very well done Uzumaki-san, Hinata-sama and myself have only seen you train once before and your already improving quite rapidly." He spoke with a smile while the little Hyuuga girl was yet again hiding herself against his side. _'He moves with such speed and fluidity. I wonder if weapons will be his __only__ forte.'_

Panting slightly, Naruto twirled his sword a bit to shake off any dirt he may have gotten on it and sheathed it. He had kept the scabbard in the same place on his lower-back with the hilt upside down so he could draw it holding it in reverse. He liked not getting too comfortable with a single set placement with his blade to keep himself agile with it.

Standing normally now, he bowed to the two Hyuugas, "Nice to see you again Hyuuga-san, Hyuuga-sama." Addressing the heiress and her guard.

Ko smiled, "Ko is fine Uzumaki-san." He nudged the shy girl at his side who so adorably held onto the length of his robe. A sweet and mumbled voice sounded softly from the girl's flushed face, "H-hinata is f-fine with me A-as well Uzumaki-san." _'He's so good with his sword. . I wonder if that's his specialty."_

Though his hurt still hadn't receded back into the lightless corners of his young heart, Naruto managed a small smile and returned the favor, "Naruto is fine." He bowed his head a little in a friendly gesture, "What can I do for you guys today?" he asked, not really used to people showing up out of the blue while he was training. Actually he still wasn't really used to people in general. He had a grand total of three people he could talk to normally, even though his approximation of normal was to nod in intent and speak only when spoken to. He rarely ever lead a conversation, he was a creature of reaction. But even with all of that, he could spare some time for a little conversation while his furry tenant thought of what to do next. **Hey, I heard that kit. . **_'You know what I mean.' _Kurama wasn't complaining about the slight tease though, she was just a little relieved that her container was in far better shape than he was in the early morning.

Ko returned with a bowing of his own head, "Hinata-sama and I were out for another stroll since there's been a lot of activity at the estate lately, Hinata-sama thought you'd be here so I figured I'd bring her over so the two of you can play. You're not busy are you?" the white-eyed teen asked with an apologetic smile, having interrupted his training.

Naruto had a look of surprise, he had only ever made one friend on his own, and he had nearly knocked her over on accident. He figured he didn't have the luck to make another friend without some type of situation bringing the two together somehow, "Well. . ." he began, and just then his tailed-conscience spoke, **Go on kit, you have all week to train. You improved in your kenjutsu much already. Now go on, make another friend.** The tone of her resonating voice soothing just as it was when she had talked to him during the early morning's ordeal. He looked and saw the hope in the almost pupil-less angelic eyes of both the little Hyuuga and the teen at her side and gave in without much complaint, he didn't mind the company, "Sure." He answered with a small smile, scratching the back of his head while walking forward after taking off his sword. "Tag! You're it!" he enthusiastically cheered as he speed away from her at a speed he thought wouldn't alarm them.

At first the sudden 'tag' caught small Hinata off guard and she just stood there with a look of surprise. Surprise that he would accept and befriend someone like her so easily. She looked to her only friendly family member and pleaded with her eyes that it was ok.

Ko chuckled a little and bowed his head, "Go on, you have to catch up to him to tag him!" he laughed a bit as she sighed as if a kitten or a puppy had just moved out of harm's way and took off after the blonde who was moving about the bushes and trees littering the training ground while laughing like a baby with a piece of candy.

After a few minutes of non-stop chasing and now panting, Hinata looked back at Ko with a smiling expression that could light up a black room, she was happy. 'You really are a friend to me Ko. . Thank you.' No words needed to be spoken, he could see it in her eyes. With a solemn smile, he bowed at the waist and laughed as she was tagged yet again while she was distracted. Out of all the family members that she had, Ko was her guardian angel, always watching over her as if she were his little sister. Having no siblings, she really was a little sister to him. Watching her make her first friend was a joy he could not describe as he folded his arms in his robe. He really did have a good feeling about this boy.

* * *

It was getting about five o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was still high in the sky and its warming beams still saturated the land and its inhabitants as two very look alike brothers who're unmistakably identical twins were strolling through a luxurious traditional garden littered with exotic flowers in intricate patterns of color coordination and blending. The symbol of their clan flawlessly depicted in the largest group of flowers, not a pedal out of place. One of the brothers with a hitai-ate fastened securely to his forehead, the other without any such clothing hiding any portion of his stoic face, staring out into seemingly nothing with pupil-less white eyes.

"The emissary from Kumo should be arriving in about a half-an-hour. . all of our preparations are set." The brother with the hitai-ate spoke with audible worry in his voice. The other, though stoic, gave off just as much worry in his aura. He was expecting the worse to happen. "Do you think we are ready?"

They passed over a traditional wooden bridge that went over a small pool of water that stretched across the estate, nearly dividing it. The clan head of the Hyuuga replied to his brother, "Ko watches over Hinata, and Hanabi is with Haya. When the Kumo _ambassador_ arrives, they'll both remain either by my side or your own. One can never be over prepared, but I have confidence that no harm shall fall upon them." It was true, the Hyuuga were not known as the 'magnum force' of Konoha for nothing. Who better to protect the future clan heiress and her younger sister than the clan head himself and his twin, equal to him in almost every way aside from the minutes separating their births?

"Ko is a disciplined boy, even if he lacks the Hyuuga mind-set, he will guard your daughter with his life Hiashi." The younger twin spoke with confidence.

Hiashi nodded, "You mean even though he lacks the stick posted firmly in his posterior like the rest of us?" he asked his younger brother as they abruptly stopped while a little ways away from both sections of houses. The two chuckled a bit, safe from open ears and allowed to be themselves for only a moment before continuing their patrol.

"Heheh, yes brother, that's exactly what I meant. Haya is frightfully deadly with her senbon, she's a fine guard for your younger daughter as well." The now more relaxed twin replied with the slightest smile.

His older brother stopping once again to gaze up into the clouds with his eyes that matched their color, and let a frown make its way to his face. They were far enough away, but quite honestly Hiashi couldn't care less if anyone saw. A father has every right to worry for his daughters. His younger brother stopping with him and standing at his side, they both folded their arms in their robes, pondering what may happen over the next few days. "Hizashi. ." the older of the two started, earning a glance from the younger, "I have a bad feeling about this. . it's the same as the day before Minato gave his life to save this village. To save all of us. And condemning his only newborn son to do it." The sadness and regret completely filling his face and shuttering his voice. So much hurt happens at once sometimes and it's always the best of people that it happens too was his only thought.

It wasn't until Hiashi became the clan head when he and his younger brother were brought back together once more. All throughout the ninja academy and years after, they were kept relatively separate as the elders groomed him, and branded and trained his younger brother with the caged bird seal. Instilling in him to serve the main family until the day he dies. In his place, but another brother all the same, Minato Namikaze who would later become the fourth Hokage of Konoha had been his second brother all throughout the ninja academy and years after up until his untimely death. He had known both 'The Yellow Flash' Minato Namikaze and 'The Red-Hot Blooded Habanero' Kushina Uzumaki before and after they were friends and later married.

Hiashi had been there every step of the way until their end. He had the same cold barren landscape feeling in his heart that he did before that fateful day, and he was shaking in his core. Who would he loose next was his thought. Hizashi caught this as he had watched over his older brother from afar, happy that at least one of them could live a somewhat normal life. He held no grudge against his brother for taking in another, in fact he was thankful. For if it were not for the Yondaime, he was sure his brother would have turned out to be just as bitter as the rest of the Main family.

Hiashi could only hope that their son, who had saved all of Konoha by taking on the burden of being the Kyuubi no Kitsune's Jinchuriki, turned out to be ok. He would have sought out the boy long ago, but his position of clan head kept him from doing so. He needed a reason to associate 'with the likes of him', though not by choice. And any he might have sent for him would be persecuted for dishonoring the Hyuuga name as well. As far as Hiashi was concerned, he could only ever watch over his best friend's child from a distance, pulling what strings he could to help.

Hizashi knew all of this all too well, for it had been _him_ in that position years ago that seemed only a day before when looking back on it. He knew his brother's pain as it was his own, "Do not worry yourself brother, the Trigram twins are together again, we'll be ok." Hizashi said with an earnest tone, trying to cheer his older brother up.

Hiashi chuckled a bit, and nodded in agreement. They were the most talented gentle fist users in the clan, both wielding the ability to hit all 361 tenketsu points in the body while executing the eight trigram palm in the gentle fist's field of divination, the effective field of the secret taijutsu techniques passed down to selected members of the clan. The only reason why Hizashi knew the techniques is through his own talent in gentle fist. Out of the two, he was the strongest. But being born minutes behind his brother Hiashi, he was condemned to the brand and shackles of the branch family.

Shaking away those thoughts, he turned back to his brother, and saw something he hadn't seen in a very long time. He was smiling. Well, his approximation of smiling anyway. And he couldn't help but smile with his brother. "You're right Hizashi." The older Hyuuga extending out a hand which the younger one gladly took and was brought into a half-embrace, "You're always right." For moments or for minutes, neither could tell. Neither wanted one of their rare brotherly bonding moments to end. But, both pulled back and reassembled into their stoic stances with their arms folded in the sleeves of their robes. "Come brother, let us enjoy a cup of tea." And with that, The Trigram duo headed into a large and luxurious traditional home, Hizashi's son Neji running out to greet his father with a hug.

* * *

It was getting late in the afternoon as the moon began to peak through the veil of the orange and reddish glow of the evening sky as the sun was halfway set. The horizon, a gloriously deep orange glow, seemingly melting into the ground. Up in a tree, two kids who had been playing for hours were now resting while the teen below was leaned up against the trunk of the tree with a delighted smile on his face, the day had been very good. Young Naruto and the shy Hyuuga heiress Hinata were sitting side-by-side on a branch halfway up the tree. For being even shorter than he was, she could climb very well when she wanted to.

Both of them just stared out to the serine horizon, soaking up the picture perfect sunset into their memories. "I had a lot of fun today Hinata. . thanks for coming today." The sudden sound of his voice startling the white-eyed girl a bit, her short-length indigo hair whipping from the sides of her face as her head snapped to her left to look the blonde boy in the eye. Her face getting as red of glow as the sun out in the distant sky in-front of them.

"T-thank you for playing with me N-naruto-kun." She adorably replied with her sweet and soothing voice while she pressed her index fingers together, that habit had birthed a few hours before when she accidently made Naruto trip over a root. He of course rolled into the fall so he stood straight up without even a scratch, but still, it was the idea that counts.

Naruto nodded with a solemn smile '_Least she's not stuttering as bad as before. Maybe she's not as afraid of me now that she at least got to know me.' _He thought as he nodded, "It was my pleasure." Resonating snickering could be heard in the back of his head, **Or maybe she finds your mysteriousness attractive. Heheheh, **Naruto almost choked on his saliva as he, for a moment, forgot that he wasn't the only one living in his head.

"A-ano. . do you think w-we could play again s-sometime?" her fidgeting picking up in intensity. _'What do you mean attractive Kurama? I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm fun to play with if that's what you're asking.' _Naruto stated in honest confusion. Even with his highly intellectual mind for a child, he was still just that, a child. Innocent in the ways of 'mature' activities and the like. "Sure Hinata-san, were friends right?" the blonde asked with a gleeful smile. _**'Yeah, she'll think you're a lot funner to play with when you two grow older kit. She'll be a fine fit for you.' **_

Hinata's eyes shot up in disbelief. Her? He wanted to be friends with her? "W-were friends?" she asked with honest and fearful disbelief in what he said, "Y-you want to be friends with m-me?" she had to be sure it was true, and that he wasn't just toying with her like the other kids did at the compound.

Naruto was at first surprised at what she had said. His thoughts immediately raced thinking that she had played with him out of mercy or maybe some sick joke. But when he looked into her eyes he knew that wasn't the case, in fact it was the polar opposite. He looked into her eyes and saw a look he had known for as long as he could remember. Fear. Even thinking the word made his dormant scars burn in impatience of wanting to effectively bleed out the emotions he kept locked away . . . and his hatred for them and for those who would and had caused them. He pushed them down further until only a slight trembling feeling remained over his hidden bleeding scars, "Of course we are. That is, if you want to be friends." He replied with a solemn smile, he wouldn't push her into it after all. He was the bearer of the nine-tailed fox after all. But something told him that wouldn't matter to this girl, not now, not ever. It was the other look in her eyes that overlapped the other that gave it away. It was the same look he had in his own eyes before they had turned cold but two weeks ago. It was the look of hope.

As if empowered by his words, she straitened her 'please don't see me' posture and held herself straighter. With a smile that rivaled his former signature grin, she nearly cried tears of joy as she hugged him, "Of course I want to be friends!" the sudden thrashing movement caused them to fall back and hit the ground 5 feet below them, laughing instead of crying as they were both two happy to feel pain whatsoever. They mostly laughed at the fact that they had fallen back so easily after appearing to be masters of the climb when they first got up there. Ko had a good laugh too as he expected that to happen sooner or later, they could barely hang their feet over the massive branch after all.

With the day becoming night and the moon now shining bright, regrettably they had to say their goodbyes. When asked if he needed a walk home he instead offered to walk with them home to see them off. It went smoothly enough up until they neared the giant estate. Naruto found an excuse before getting to close and left before he got them in trouble. Though he did give Ko a good handshake and the blushing Hinata a hug. It might had been the wrong move on his part he thought, because as soon as he hugged her she went completely red and nearly fainted. Which made him wonder what had been different in the tree. '_Ah it was probably the fall from the tree. I hope she'll be ok." _He concluded the fall from the tree having an effect on her body. She was pretty small after all even if she was well developed for a child. A strong body she had but a big one she didn't, the fall must have done her in a bit he thought as he walked away with a wave.

Getting back to training ground 23, Naruto decided with consent from his tenant that he would turn in for the night and make camp in the abandoned war-shack he had made into his home-away-from-home after discovering it on his most recent run for his life.

Lighting candles he had procured over the past few weeks and scattering them about, he took in the sight once more. It was lit more than well enough for him, but it was just how it was built that intrigued him. The walls were thick with old paint and the untouched weapon racks were scattered about the large underground hall like his candles. The center table which he had missed the first time around had an equally old map of Konoha towards one end of it. Looking it over, he could tell it had been a very long time since anyone had been in there, as the parchment was weathered and the map itself was in poor condition. Only the faintest outlines could be seen of buildings and structures, strategic points and arrows pointing to what may had once been either objectives or points of defense. He had seen plans like this before, he was no stranger to what they implied. Again his scars trembled at the memories that were associated with that particular knowledge, and he fought them back down again.

Looking around some more, he found that there were kanji littered all over the walls and ceiling. He wondered what they were for. **Reinforcing the infrastructure of this hall kit. It was built to last the likes of me and/or my kind.**

Naruto nodded, _'Is this what fuinjutsu can do? It's amazing if it can withstand even you.' _He added in astonishment that such jutsu existed. The feat of successfully withstanding the wrath of a bijuu, let alone Kurama, was not easily met in the least. **This is but a taste of what fuinjutsu is capable of. When mastered, the possibilities are nearly limitless. What's keeping me sealed within you is a product of fuinjutsu. Imagine what it can do when geared towards other things with the same effort and capability.** Naruto lifted his shirt and made his seal appear with the help of chakra flowing over it. This was but a fraction of the power known as fuinjutsu. _'Do you think I can learn Fuinjutsu?' _the great fox nearly choked on her laugh. **Heheh, Not only will you learn it, but I will personally make sure that you are a master of fuinjutsu by the time and maybe even before you reach adulthood.**

Naruto's eyes shot wide open, and he even took a few steps back from the shock. _'Can I really do it?' _he asked, he knew it couldn't be as easy as learning how to handle a sword or a knife. Hell, learning jutsu and how to control chakra was probably easier than fuinjutsu if he could guess. **I promise you, your body is built for combat, and while your mind is equal to your body's adaptability to the heat of battle, it is unparalleled in its build for picking apart and putting back together the jigsaw pieces of chakra.**

Naruto was confused, it was his understanding that fuinjutsu revolved around kanji and the different uses and manipulation of it. _'How is fuinjutsu like a puzzle Kurama? I thought fuinjutsu is all about kanji and how chakra runs through it.' _That in itself made sense to the boy. What his furry tenant said was a mystery to him.

**Chakra by itself is a purest of energy. Some call it spirit energy, others call it raw power. Life energy if you will. While that is true when talking about the body and conventional ninjutsu, it is not however true for fuinjutsu. **Naruto nodded, _'So then what is chakra when you're looking at it from fuinjutsu's side?" _Kurama smiled, **An excellent question Naruto, you've earned yourself a ration of ramen a week for that. **The blonde nearly cried cheers of joy, he had thought he had lost ramen for life after his new diet was introduced.

Kurama cleared her throat, snapping her container out of his ramen withdrawal induced haze. **Now, listen closely kit, and be sure to memorize it. For when walking the path of fuinjutsu, this simple philosophy may help you conquer even the most complicated of seals. **Naruto nodded swiftly, and sat cross-legged. He felt it was safe enough to venture back into his mindscape, and proceeded to do so. Though he would have to apologize to Kurama later for not going in when she invited him. He knew it was not a meaningless or insignificant gesture when one such as herself actually extended her welcome during his time of need. He would be sure to try and explain things as best he could to her when he got the chance.

The sensation of floating in clouds was all around him, at least that's what he imagined it felt like. He soon felt the soft support of healthy grass and the smell of nature was all around him. There was no sun, but the landscape around him and as far as the eye could see was lit as if there was one. He had imagined this scene as he had dove in, hoping to make things A little more comfortable for his tenant. The hilly grassland was where they were currently at, a seeming never ending forest stretched around the clearing about a couple hundred meters or so away from them. The gate which had imprisoned Kurama for so long, was gone. In its place, a chain-like bracelet with a few chains hanging here or there was fastened to her right paw.

With a sigh of relief, the great fox nodded in thanks and hoisted her kit up atop of her head as she began to take a simple stroll around her new scenery. Figuring she would save her talk about him not wanting to enter the mindscape for later, she carried on with her overlook on the mysterious and shrouded realm of fuinjutsu.

"**It is not what symbols you draw that determines how a seal works, or what it does. It is the way you change the nature and very essence of chakra **_**with**_** the symbols you inscribe on whatever object you are performing any given seal on." **Kurama began her explanation,Naruto nodded in attention while they were now at the edge of the clearing, and began to walk along the giant trees that provided them shade in the illuminated scape. **"The jutsu all ninja learn during their lifetime is the energy side of chakra. Essentially, the jutsu all ninja learn only utilize the power of chakra. Hence the manipulation into the elemental affinities that chakra entail. Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire, all the basic forms of jutsu. The more complicated of jutsu form different techniques that can later be mastered into finely tuned and accurate jutsu that focus on a tight area. Or they can be monstrously powered and focused on a wide area. All of this, is achieved by the energy of chakra alone."**

The relaxing blonde again nodded. "So then fuinjutsu focuses on a completely different side of chakra then right? That's what makes it so hard for ninja to master it. It's either one or the other except for a few people who can do both right?" Naruto caught on quick, if Kurama was going this in-depth about regular jutsu and the nature of chakra behind it, then fuinjutsu was going to be something else entirely.

Kurama stifled a chuckle, **"Correct again Kit, Fuinjutsu and regular ninjutsu only share one thing in common. They both use chakra as a power source." **Naruto figured that much, but still listened intently, for he knew that his partner wasn't done.** "While ninjutsu focuses on the power and manipulation of chakra to achieve the techniques that can be made from it, fuinjutsu focuses on the structure of chakra itself to achieve the wonders that it can do." **Naruto was puzzled, he didn't understand what the fox meant by 'the structure of chakra'.

"You mean chakra is made up of a bunch of pieces? I thought it was just energy?" At least that's what he had read while at Ichiraku's. They had gotten him many books on anything ninja oriented since that was what he wanted to be. Even if they were fearful that he may get hurt, they couldn't stop him. Their mentality was at least he would be able to defend himself in a thousand different ways.

The great fox chuckled a bit, she knew he would ask something along those lines. He had a tendency to look at things from only a few angles, instead of sometimes loosening the guidelines of reality and let imagination have the lead. **"That is true, but at the same time it is false." **She almost burst into laughter this time at the look on his face. It spoke something like 'really? You're gonna say something like that as a way of explaining things?', **"Let me explain kit, but hold your questions until the end." **With a skeptical look now on his face, he decided to just say 'Aah what the hell', and nod while sitting again in a cross-legged position with his hands on his knees. Nearly meditating.

Now walking towards a less dense part of the forest line, Kurama could see a lake forming. Naruto was adding to their terrain. **"Chakra in its entirety is pure energy, the power emitted from one's soul if you will. Even the spirit of things have chakra. The world has chakra, even a rock has some form of chakra. The earth itself can be considered a chakra being because of its mass alone. Hence the name, 'mother earth' or 'mother nature'. Almost anything you can think of has chakra in its smallest forms or running through its veins." **Naruto nodded slightly, he was now working on a moon to cover the lake that lay in a darkened twilight state.

"**With that being said, chakra also has a structure. Else it would have no way to be contained in either of our body's or be molded to do anything. Without a structure, chakra would only exist and only be moldable in a handful of ways at best. Like light." **The moon Naruto had created glowed an eerie, but at the same time mesmerizing Light violet. The view of the nether-worldly moon and its reflection in the still lake before them was like a masterpiece painting brought to life. It nearly took the great fox's breath away, for even a demon could appreciate a beauty that even they hadn't seen before. She started to rethink her comment about Naruto having a limited imagination as clouds doused in reddish aura glided across one direction of the spirit moon while clouds endowed with bluish aura made their way across in the opposite direction of their red counterparts.

"**What makes fuinjutsu so hard is that the structure of chakra is near never-ending as chakra in itself doesn't have an ending point. What chakra that is used by a body is expelled from it and becomes nature chakra when it is absorbed into the surroundings when the technique ends." **She spoke while lazily making her way around the massive lake even in comparison to the bijuu, her tails slicing through the still water like knives would butter. She noticed rocks in the lake that ever slightly glowed a vibrant emerald hint. Illuminating the water enough to see every inch of its depths in the nether-moon's wake. This truly was a dream world if she ever saw one.

"**Although, when fuinjutsu is mastered, you will be able to manipulate the **_**structure **_**of chakra itself, and enable it to do unimaginable things if done right. Anything from sealing items away in scrolls, to making objects near unbreakable like the walls of the war-room your body is in. The possibilities are endless just as chakra is." **Now stopping in the center of the shore on a side of the gargantuan lake, and staring up into the soul-like moon veiled in the illuminescent clouds of dark and white natures. **"All the kanji really are in fuinjutsu are just labels for the pieces of the structure of chakra. All you must do to create a seal is just inscribe the order of the structure of chakra, which you want in accordance to what you wish the seal to do. Then, you tie the order you want with the sufficient platform of kanji that has the ability to hold the seal together and withstand any weathering and/or tampering from the outside. This is called a sealing matrix and the sealing array. The matrix is what the seal does, the array is what holds the seal together and keeps outside elements from tampering with it."**

Naruto opened his eyes at that point and looked up at his creation along with his guardian. He had memorized every word. At first, the idea of fuinjutsu seemed impossible to master. But when Kurama had put it in the perspective that she did, it was as clear as the lake he had imagined. When he thought about it, the fundamentals of fuinjutsu was exactly what it is like creating something in his mindscape. You had to hold the idea in your mind as a clear picture, and make it your own and into the reality you wanted it in. This, he thought, was also true for that of the nature of seals. All he needed to do was envision what he wanted to do, and draw it out instead of imagining it. _Chakra _would do the rest of the work. It was amazing, the simplicity of it. But then he thought that's what made the mystery of fuinjutsu so unknown. You needed a 'free mind' to be able to grasp its concept and meaning. Not one shackled by the morals and limitations or restrictions that society had on a child's mind. A free mind that was self-taught, and learned from experience.

"**So, Naruto. . Do you think you can handle it?" **the ever present guardian of the blonde calmly asked. Though her voice was deep and resonating with power, Naruto could still perceive it as a parent guiding their child in the ways of life. In this instance she was making sense to him one of the last things he would have to learn in order to survive the life of a ninja. She had already started him on the rest.

Naruto took a moment to take in everything that he had learned so far, everything he had experienced minus the memories he had kept hidden until their sudden burst, and realized something. He would need to prepare himself much more than he had first thought, for everything up until this point had only been the begging.

Feeling a slight cool breeze sweep across the picture still lake, he could see the starting works of waves. The ripples in the water were beginning to build with the push and pull of the wind against its surface. He found it rather appropriate considering he himself had risen from a deathly still just two weeks ago. With a look of seeing beyond in his eyes, the boy nodded slowly, and answered his ever watchful guardian, "Yes. . . I feel like I'm meant to." Moving a little to his left to grip a bit of one of her ears, he gently kissed it and laid down on her head, "I am in your hands. . . Kurama."

At first, the fox demon didn't know what to make of the gesture. She had never felt such compassion from anyone. From a mortal no less. There was only one she ever felt the any sort of emotional attachment to, and he had died long ago. The sage that she considered her father, he alone held anything in the form of love from her. And yet here was this boy forced into being her living prison, the very source of all the misery he had faced so far, showing her the one thing she thought never capable of receiving from another mortal again. He was beginning to show her love that a child would his mother. Though not in the same way she had seen in many other mortals, it was the emotion all the same. He cared for her, cared of her opinion. Respected her, and above all, trusted her.

The sounds of small waves hitting shore sounded in the silent landscape, there was peace. Kurama, the nine-tailed fox and strongest of the bijuu, cared for this boy just as her nickname for him implied. Even if she had only called him that because she felt uncomfortable voicing his name. With the bond between them growing, she saw no issue with her response, **"As I have been in yours. . . Naruto."**

Guardian and the boy under her watch followed each other's roles as they both made themselves comfortable in the newly formed scape. Naruto had resided to sleeping alongside her massive face as he had done the other time they were both in the abandoned war room. Shifting in his sleep, Kurama was able to look down the neck of his shirt and see the seal she had bestowed upon him. It was now closer to what it originally was, with the single-tailed fox now sitting on its haunches, looking up to an imaginary sky. She was glad that he was now much more calmed than he was before, his seal's depiction proved it.

The sounds of calm waves brushing against the shore line filled her ears as she let herself slip into sleep's embrace. The tide was rising.

* * *

The morning had been a rather productive one without any unexpected persons popping up out of the blue. He had moved to training ground 20 as instructed by his reddish furred sensei, and would move from to the next systematically every hour or so as he changed his pace and focus of training.

He started off with his sword, now a full-fledged extension of his arm though he still had his clumsy moments. All he needed to do now was become accustomed to switching sword hands and be equally skilled in using both. It felt a little weird, especially with certain movements in particular strikes and guarding motions but for the most part it was relatively the same as using his right. He hadn't noticed before but it seemed that he could use both hands for pretty much everything. He didn't have a dominant hand, he was actually showing signs of ambidexterity. Though he hadn't learned how to do everything with his left hand as he had with his right, Naruto found that it wasn't all too difficult to use his sword with his left hand.

He tested his left with kunai next, and now he noticed the difference. If he could describe the feeling, he guessed it was like how when Teuchi or Ayame hadn't made him write in a while and when he was told to it was like his hand was a little numb, like his muscle was no longer used to the movements. This was exactly what it was like for using his left hand with his sword and the like, a little polishing and it would be up to par with his right in no time. It was an interesting thing he found out about himself. Kurama had told him that this was actually a rare thing, but that she wasn't too surprised since the way he handled his sword was really fluid no matter how he moved it about, not to mention how he threw kunai. She just thought it funny as it was one more anomaly to add to his score card. He simply shrugged and decided to make the best of it.

About halfway through the day and 9 training grounds later, Naruto stopped dead in his tracks while bringing out food and the rice-balls Ino had made that he hadn't gotten to enjoy yet. He couldn't quite pin it down, all he knew was something was wrong, something wasn't right. For minutes he was looking from tree to tree, training ground off one way and forestry out to the other from where he was at while looking for the source of this odd feeling. Just then, he got his answer. A slight tremor in the ground that barely had enough force to make a person notice if they weren't walking. He didn't understand.

A few moments after that phenomenon, all naruto could hear was the struggling and failing attempt of one giant fox trying to hide her bursting laughter. "What?" was all Naruto could really ask, he had no idea what had happened just now. Finally, unable to hold in the laughter that was threatening to make her burst, the bijuu let it loose. **Pfft pfft . . BAHAHAHAHA oh god that's rich AHAHAHAHA! **

The sudden boom of roaring cackling laughter had the boy's head vibrating back and forth while he held the sides of his head to keep himself steady, "What?! What the hell is so funny?!" his head was starting to hurt from his tenant's volume excessive laughter. Now down to a deep chuckle Kurama gave him his answer, **It seems your feral senses are more prominent that we originally thought, you just sensed an earthquake before it happened. Only Animals can sense a change in the earth such as that. . You Naruto, are truly my kit. Heheheh. **Pouting, Naruto didn't know if he should take that as a compliment or an insult to his character. He didn't fancy being literally called 'an animal' to his liking. But then how could he deny the claim? He could see clearly on a solely starlit night as if he were only in a dimly lit room, and even then his vision was so sharp it didn't matter too much. He could hear a single bird chirp from a good 50 meters away and he had a knack for sensing when he was being watched and near danger from the villagers constantly pillage on his home and his health. When everything was laid out before him, he really was a miniature fox. . Just a lot less hairy and missing tails.

He merely snorted and continued with his training. Thinking 'Damn fox.' In his head while earning more chuckles from one giant and very furry fox.

Elsewhere. . .

'So. . he thinks he's going to strut about as if he is untouchable? So long as he keeps away from my daughters, I will allow him to feel safe.' One Hiashi Hyuuga, the clan head of the fabled Hyuuga clan both feared and revered for their prized doujutsu _The Byakugan _and taijutsu style that destroys an opponent from the inside out _The Gentle Fist_ was currently restraining himself from having a field day with a certain emissary from Kumogakure. Kumo and Konoha had been at feuding odds with each other ever since the Raikage Ai had come into power. His thirst for making his village stronger made him and his village's enemies with Konoha after their many attempts at 'recruiting' kekkei genkai wielders at every chance they got. He saw people with kekkei genkai as weapons, and he or his village having the right to both kidnap and exploit them by any means necessary. The current situation of having a _retired _infamous ninja from Kumo being sent to negotiate a treaty with Konoha, under the guides of staying under the all-seeing eyes of the Hyuuga as a sign of good faith had both Hiashi, and his clan on edge.

"As I'm sure your Hokage has informed you, I will be staying under your clan's watchful eyes during my stay here in Konoha until an agreement is reached between our two great villages. My Raikage believes that the strong should group together to weed out and discipline the weak." A dark haired man with a hardened body upholding an equally hardened face spoke in a tone very befitting for that of a politician with every bit of arrogance and self-appointed hierarchy in place. Few scars could be seen on the parts of his body that weren't covered by the luxurious blue robes that he wore coupled with a necklace that went down into his undershirt. Though this did not mean he wasn't a lethal ninja when he was in service, in fact it meant quite the opposite. Bearing the title of 'The Slasher of Kumo', Hiroto Miura was an ex-head ninja of Kumo. His achievements during the third great ninja war when he was barely a teen earned him his place in their ranks as one of the most ferocious and outlandish ninja in Kumo do to his years of service and the many bingo-book ninja he had hunted down for his village. Little was known of his background and what he did outside of Kumo, his name allowed him such privacy.

Hiashi stood like a mountain, daring any to try and reach its peak. He would make sure to be the one to gladly take the head of the man before him if he dared eye any of his kin the wrong way, "Yes I have been informed of your arrival. And might I add that you and your escorts will be staying in the guest's quarters under surveillance of no less than five guards at any given time. To _ensure _your safety and comfort during your stay in _our _village." If it weren't for his emotionless and near statue-like expression, the ex-Kumo Nin could have sworn the pale eyed man was sneering at his last sentence.

The emissary nodded, he had understood the intended message as he had expected to receive it. He would cease to live the moment they suspected any foul play. The guards were useless however, he had a plan. As this was a meeting for the peace of two warring villages, he had the upper hand and could neither be touched, or kept under watch at _all _times as the Hyuuga head had stated. There was one place he literally couldn't be watched by law. The hokage tower. He was there on official business and under the guise of an Ambassador from a foreign village, aside from the Hokage himself, none could be near their meeting in caution of sensitive information being shared between the representatives of each village. It was during his waiting period where he would make his strike. For when he attends the meetings, every guard ordered to watch him would be right we're he wanted them to be. Close.

"Of course Hyuuga-sama, I thank you for the concern. I hope the week from hence forth will be a beneficial one to both of our villages. Now if you'll excuse me, I am weary from my trek here, and must retire." The smile never leaving him as he talked the lingo of men in robes. It was hard translating to talk in a 'sophisticated' manor, he was much more acclimated to the usual language of ninja in the field. He had been ordered to read books on proper etiquette and speech for this mission, and it was a pain with every minute he spent learning the ways of the people pulling the strings. It was far too difficult for him to deal with, and was actually missing his life of just being 'The Slasher', politics wasn't his gig. When it was all said and done, he would do this without question if it meant he could get back to his _master, _he needed the information that he had been waiting for the opportunity to get in order to go back to base without being made into a mince of meat. Failure was not an option. And this treaty business was the perfect way to get into Konoha.

Hiashi didn't like how he was trying to get rid of him so soon, but then that could just be his caution of the Kumo-nin setting foot inside his compound, not 50 meters between him and his daughters or any other unsealed members within its walls for that matter. He would have him watched like a missing ninja for sure, "I understand, it must have been a long journey." Motioning the guards that he had chosen to be the Kumo-nin's watchdogs, he sent him away from his sight before he did something he would regret, "They will show you to your quarters, good-day. . I don't believe I caught your name." he said just as Hiroto had taken a step.

Without a pause, he nodded and chuckled a bit, "Heheh ah yes I must be more tired that I had first thought, forgive me Hyuuga-sama, I am Kaito Huzuna, humble councilman of Kumogakure." He bowed while on the way down and right back up, his smile had never left him. "I bid thee farewell." 'Kaito' spoke with a playful tone, though he had meant it as a regard of disrespect for the man before him as well as his stature.

Taking his leave and the three that made up his escort along with him, the ninja from Kumogakure made their way to the guest home they would be staying at for the week while they negotiated the terms of a treaty with Konoha.

Watching the filth of Kumo strut away from his presence, Hiashi sighed, it was going to be a very difficult week.

"What do you think Brother? Do you think they will try something?" the seal bearing twin asked in a halfway joking manor. It would surely be suicide if they tried anything but then again the ninja from Kumo were just as crazy as their Kage was.

The seal-less twin sighed, "It is hard to say Hizashi, they are daring enough to come this far. It is not hard to fathom that they would take that extra step." Both brothers looked to the clouds, so few were in the sky, and yet the ones that were there were so calm. Perhaps they just needed to be the same. "We will see how things turn out, all the preparations have been put in place. Let us go about things as we normally would, and return to our children."

Hizashi nodded with his brother, Neji still had much to learn and he needed to be mentally prepared for the branding of the caged-bird seal that he would receive when he turned 7. He was still 6 but nonetheless, he needed to know what was going to happen to him.

Both brothers folded their arms in the sleeves of their robes and proceeded to go with their children.

* * *

Three days had passed, and Naruto was progressing under the stress of the survival training just as Kurama had predicted. Fast. His body was still a little underdeveloped for one his age but the training she was having him do along with the new diet was quickly remedying that. Just as suspected, the pressure of a 'live or die' scenario brought out his true potential, and he absorbed whatever he was taught like a sponge. It was just as she had seen before, he could learn outside of harm's way, but whatever change the potential threat on his life brought in him made him quickly progress with whatever he was doing, as if he would literally die if he didn't accomplish what he set out to do. It was incredible. Yet it was scary at the same time, one had to wonder where he had picked up this habit if he wasn't like this naturally.

But then, as animalistic as he seemed to be at times, the idea of this being another one of his instincts wasn't too hard to fathom. The impulse to stay alive in animals was a monstrously influential instinct that each animal possessed. Even Kurama had it. Humans had it also, but not at the level that the boy who carried her within did. He didn't hesitate to act immediately when he felt his life was threatened even on a miniscule level. He was like a fox cornered in its den, willing to fight with whatever it had to survive to draw another free breath.

Now on training ground 37, he took to alternating between running at full speed in every direction possible throughout the hills of the training grounds and fighting imaginary foes while doing the same thing. Kurama was having him getting used to moving about constantly changing terrain without a single stumble and the same for when in combat. After about two hours of doing that for a half-an-hour without stopping and a ten minute break, he repeated the process in the trees.

Starring up into the sentinel-like trees, the boy groaned a little. _'Running and fighting on a bunch of hills was hard enough, now you want me to run and fight in trees too?' _his legs were tight from the strain of going up and down hills in the technical movements of his fighting and the simple exercise of running. **Think about it kit, a predator is the master of the environment their most suited for so when their prey come near, they are superior and cannot be overtaken. **Naruto nodded as he started to get the picture of what she was trying to do. **If you master every terrain, you will be the master of every environment and no prey will be able to escape you no matter what or who it is, no matter where they are. They could come to you, or you can go to them. Either way, you will be superior.**

Naruto nodded, he had read books about animals and how their body's changed in accordance to what they ate and where they lived. If he could master every type of terrain, he would be top dog. **Apex-predator is the term Kit. I will make you into one. **The image of the smile she sent him gave him shivers. If he was going to be an 'apex-predator' what would that make Kurama? 'Apex-tailed beast'? **I am exactly that Kit, good observation. **The smile widened as she laughed at his facepalm. **Now go, master the forest Naruto, make the shadows your domain and the woods your tool. **Naruto raised an eyebrow. Kurama coughed a bit, **I remembered all the fairy tales your friends at the ramen-shop read to you. . I imagined they would help to inspire you a bit. **She corrected herself as she straightened her posture and stroke a sophisticated pose with her snout pointing towards the sun that now sailed across the sky of their mindscape.

Naruto just shrugged, _'I don't care if you like books and what not, I think their pretty cool too.' _the blonde reassured as he stretched a bit. **Never-mind that kit, go and don't come out of those woods until you are the master of them. **She ordered with a remnant of embarrassment that she had been caught during one of her more poetic times of the day. Over the course of her life some of her joys she had partaken in and considered some of man's creations were poetry and philosophy.

And with that, the mini-blonde predator dove into the woods and proceeded to 'master' them as his fluffy sensei instructed. He pumped chakra throughout his body just as he had been practicing over the last three days and enhanced it. His body feeling lighter than air, his muscles feeling twice as strong, his nails now claws, and his eyes now the like of his tenant's as his whisker marks darkened and were now defined as the mark of the being within him. It wasn't the same as when Kurama's charka was flowing through him, but he was enhanced nonetheless. When he was operating off of her chakra however, he felt invincible. As if nothing could withstand the power of his fury. But, seeing as how he didn't need that power for training, he reserved himself to using just his power. Even his own chakra was a mini-powerhouse as his constant games of chakra tug-of-war increased his reserves from the strain each time.

Naruto was never satisfied with himself, and had every right not to be. He was barely keeping himself together as it was, his 'scars' were proof of that. He had to constantly fight with himself to remain as a cold rock. As difficult as it was, he was learning how to multitask with a hurricane of emotions at the same time quite well. Then again, he had always done this. Even at his early age he had to fight back the urge to pummel the villagers that tormented him so.

Shaking off the thoughts of the villagers he would take great pleasure in digging his claws into, Naruto plunged himself into the thick foliage, immersing himself in nature. From the time that Naruto had spent in the woods surrounding Konoha, he found that animals were much more sensitive to the slightest vibrations and faintest of smells and sounds. No ninja could match them. So, he figured if he could master the art of stealth on animals, humans would be like stalking a toy doll just waiting to be tossed around.

Taking his place amongst the shadows after about an hour of tracking, Naruto zeroed in on a deer. It was a magnificent buck with antlers to point. Scars could be seen from its many battles with other males, and a few were too straight to be from an antler's point. He had been hunted before. But the buck ever been hunted by one such as he was the thought on Naruto's mind. He was no stranger to using his claws while his body was in its more animalistic state. He was rather proficient, though they had never actually tasted flesh. He had used them many nights in his dreams however, and he got very creative in the many different ways he could tear into the mob of villagers that would stir up the usual lynches for him. He had enough strength in them to rip into the walls of his apartment, Naruto wondered how they would fair against the flesh of the living. The flesh of the buck in-front of him. The flesh of his _prey._

Keeping his body close to the ground, he stalked towards the unsuspecting deer as would a wolf. Body tight to the ground, paws caressing the earth as if it were a baby's cheek. He was silent. A few times he had critically avoided sticks and twigs that would have given him away otherwise, but he had moved about them like the agile fox that he was. Silent. The only things that could be heard in the dark thick of the forest were the rustling of the tips of the trees far above his head and the buck grazing just underneath one. The air was thick with the scent of the vegetation around, and the odor emitting from the deer in his sights. His scent was nowhere to be found, unable to be detected. His pours sealed with the chakra he kept flowing throughout his body as it had made its way to his skin, sealing off the scent giving sweat glands on every inch of him.

His heart was racing but he could not feel its thundering pumps. He could not even hear the pulses ringing in his ears, no, all he heard was the quiet of the forest. And the steady breaths of the deer in front of him. Adrenaline was coursing through every inch of his little body, the thrill of his first hunt making its realizing hit on his conscience. He was a hunter. All his focus was on the prey before him and what he had to do to make it his first kill. He couldn't feel his heart beat anymore, he only knew it was racing to keep up with his thrill. He was a hunter. He had prowled his way to just over 8 meters away from his prey. A silent approach. His mouth was filling with the anticipation of the hunt. He was careful not to let any excess of emotion to escape his thoughts, animals could sense when they were being _hunted_. No, he was a ghost. He was a shadow. He was a predator. And he was about to take his prey.

He had settled in-between two overlapping bushes with a little opening in the middle of them. He was cloaked in the shadow of the forest and was within its' thick brush as if he had always belonged. He was surprising himself more and more with how much he seemed to be accustomed to what he was doing. He could chalk it up to be his demonic partner rubbing off on him, but then that wouldn't be true. He had always had this side to him, even at this age. If anything, he was growing into it even more.

The deer was oblivious to the predator in its midst. It was still standing there, grazing like it had done thousands of times before. Little did it know that this would be the last time it would ever taste the noble grass that grows even in the darkest of places, and the bloodiest of battlefields. Naruto was anxious, his body shivering from the heat of the stalk. His claws were clenching the dirt like vises. He couldn't wait any longer, but he chained himself down allowing his prey one last moment of grazing. Such a simple thing life seemed to be. So complicated and full of sorrows. Yet in the presence of one with the will to make it his own, it can be taken in a second. Ten seconds, ten seconds was what he allowed the deer before his pounce. Time seemed to slow to a still.

How could it be so easy to take the life of something? Mortal or not, how could it be so easy to take something's life and make it your own? These were the questions that began to run across his very young mind. Then it dawned on him. It was easy because it was meant to be. How difficult would it have been had he been stalking one such as him? Maybe not the same, but a ninja, or a common man. It depended on who you choose as prey that makes the taking of life easy, or difficult. Either way, it was done the same. Perhaps the journey to the ending moment would be hard for some, but the end all together was the same. It was too easy for Naruto to take a life. And the thrill he was getting now was making it all the more enticing. Would he feel different if it were another person? Perhaps. But the fact was that his current prey was exactly that. Prey. One without voice and without name. One who had just run out of time.

The ten seconds he had given the honorable deer before him were now over. It was as much for the deer as it was for Naruto. He had never taken his eyes off of its side as its head dipped down and lifted occasionally as it chewed the grass that gave it life. He only saw this because it was in his sight. The impulse of the hunt was still ever present in him. He couldn't even hear himself breathe, hadn't been able to for a while. His breathes were slow, deep, full of patients. A stalker's breathe. His posture hadn't shifted. He was down low to the ground, arms and legs ready to pounce. Claws, waited to claim their first kill.

He waited. He knew the slightest error would thwart all of his effort. As feral as he currently was, he couldn't think like a beast now, no. He had to think as a true animal, a true predator. He must be patient. Not all is as it seems, and he knew he had to wait for the right moment to strike. The deer's head was up chewing, paying no mind to its surroundings as it ate. Now it was back down to the ground, surveying its nutrition of choice. It was here where he _didn't _want to strike. Here the deer was most alert as it knew this was when it was most vulnerable. Here, its level hidden eyes scanned its sides and as far back as it could, less a predator be stalking it.

Now its head was back up, and its gaze now relaxed as it enjoys its graze. He had surveyed his surroundings and found them safe for the moment, now his ears were its line of defense. It was here where Naruto wanted to strike. Its head was back down, and his little heart sped up even further, he knew what was coming. It was just around the corner, just about time to finally release his claws from their aching prison of earth, dirt, and mud. The deer's head was going back up. Naruto could barely keep a hold on himself as the moment he had been waiting for, _aching _for was now just but a second away. Its head was still going up, up, up.

Silence. Nothing but the cold dead of noiseless sound in his ears. He had leaped just as the buck was about to finish its first chew. With his combination of chakra enhanced, adrenaline flooded, and instinctually uninhibited body dull of all other senses of pain, worry, sorrow, or doubt. The eight meter distance closed in a flash when seen from another's eyes. But to Naruto, it had taken eternity. He flew as if he were without weight, without worry, without any moral bindings holding him down and away from his prey. His claws were held just a little past his shoulders in spread, able to move about either which way if the deer made a momentous move. His body was completely level in the air, leaning a bit forward where his claws where awaiting their landing on the unsuspecting buck. He paid no mind as the buck's head began turning around as he let loose what he thought was a growl. He couldn't tell, everything was so slow he thought it was the hum of a quake.

He saw himself in the eyes of his prey. If it had been any other mortal, they would have had to be tended to for the shock of what they had seen. True to the heavy impulse that had taken his body into vise grip, he didn't appear normal off first glance. His teeth could no longer be classified as normal, their fang-length extending far beyond the lengths of normal as his canines and their seeming filed sharpness passed his bottom lips while his mouth was wide open in his snarl.

It was quick. The buck had turned its head all the way to the right to view its killer in full. Its eyes going wide to the point of nearly popping out in the extreme of which they opened, completely stunned in fear of the predator about to take its life. Like clockwork, and with the ferocity not that of a normal human, the moment his claw bearing left-hand met the fur coated exposed neck of the deer, his grip around it tightened like a vise and crushed the buck's windpipe as he swung around it. Reaching the opposite side of the buck with his iron grip, in a simultaneous succession, he ripped out the buck's throat as his right hand clamped down on the back of its neck and muscled it down in the momentum of his swing, effectively pinning it down on its side as he agilely hopped over it once it hit the ground to avoid its kicking legs.

It had happened so fast he had barely enough time to process what he was doing before he acted. He was running on instinct. Even now he was barely able to stop himself enough to where he could comprehend what he had done. Looking into the gasping face of the impressive buck beneath him, he could feel its life blood soaking the patch of earth that they were both occupying. His thundering heart began to slow down as his sight widened from the narrow point they had sharpened themselves into. His breathing went from violent and fast breaths to calming and slowing. Everything was slowing and time came back into comprehension. He surveyed his surrounding, no one was around. Not even a squirrel. It was as if this lone deer was put here to test him.

He looked back down to his prey. And felt remorse. It wasn't his prey anymore. Its soundless screams of struggled strands of air had changed that label. It was in pain. Pain that only he knew. Without a second though he held up the claws of his left hand into a point. Taking one last glance of himself from the eyes of the buck as they actually teared a bit, and plunged them into its chest, severing its heart and lungs from the rest of its internal works. His face was that of a statue, completely still and emotionless as the eyes of the buck glazed over, and closed. Its body completely rested and still. It was no longer his prey. It was now his first kill.

It was strange. He had felt guilt for a second, and in no less than a second it was gone and he was now at peace with himself. The reason being, he had put the buck to rest. He felt neither joy nor sadness, but the calm like that of a still pond or lake. Even his head now felt cool, opposite of the flaming heat of the hunt that he had just experienced. He made sure the eyes of the buck were shut, so that it could sleep properly.

He sat back against a nearby tree not five feet away from the deer, and looked at what just happened. He had killed. And he got the answer to the questions that were running through his head just before he had done the deed. He didn't know.

He didn't know what he felt about the taking of life. The only thing he knew was that he did not enjoy it. He knew that he found no pleasure in killing. It could only be described by him as one thing. Strange.

**You pass Naruto.** His guardian sounding off like his conscience. "Pass what Kurama? . . I killed it. . . I killed the deer." He replied just above a whisper, lifting his thick red glazed hands to where they could both see. **Yes, you did. But let me ask you one thing. **The scars on his body began their burning as the emotions he kept locked away began to rise, "What?" his body began to tremble ever so slightly, as if it were only the air that was vibrating. **Did you enjoy it? **. . Naruto paused. No. At least he didn't think so. It didn't feel like any kind of joy that he knew. It was sad. Sad in the sense where he had been the one to end something's life. Taken away everything it had ever gained and damning anything it would ever get. "No. . no I didn't." the beginning works of his scar's visible mark of pain now halted and reined back in once again.

Kurama put a veil of her chakra over him, as if caressing him once more. It wasn't the flame that he was usually encased in, no, this was like the faintest of mist given color. As if the mist were made up of the tiniest embers and given a shape. The veil hugged Naruto and poured its caring warmth into his body, shielding him from the cold of the approaching night. **Then you are a true hunter.** Naruto was confused, though he didn't show it. The only thing he did was lift his hand to try and caress the brilliant yet dark aura surrounding him in return for its warmth. "What does that mean. . I still took a life. Even if it was a deer's, a life is a life." A tear began to roll down his small cheek before the ember-like illuminating aura turned it to steam.

The embering mist of the aura gently lifted his chin to where a two concentrations of it took the form of eyes staring into his with that of near sadness. **It means that you are not a killer. **The look on his face staring down at his blood cloaked hands could break stone with its sadness. **A killer takes a life for the sake of just taking it because a killer can. A true hunter takes a life because it has to. Not because it wants to. . You needed to know what it's like to take a life early so that you'll be able to protect the ones that will be on your team. You know ninja get their first experience with death while on a mission, this was a mission given to you by me. And you have passed. You did not kill this deer for no reason. You killed it because this experience may just save you and those who will be on your team from a very probably danger of life or death situations on missions. Not only that, but you are out of food, and the week isn't complete. This deer will give you the life that its body held to sustain yours. It is the circle of life Naruto, as heartless as it may seem, it's just the way things go.**

The boy couldn't tear his eyes away from the blood that was on his hands, for it wasn't his staining them. He had spilled the blood of another on himself. His only comfort was that he had not done it for no reason. He understood everything that his guardian was telling him, and he knew it was true. He just needed time to let it sink in and process it. Though that time was cut short as the glittering of moonlight reflecting off of metal made quick work of his thoughts with the shining of metal making its way straight towards his head.

Naruto moved his head to the right, allowing the alien metal to hit the trunk of the tree with a clear *dok*. _Kunai! _The blonde's mind kick started as he sprung up on all fours. **Naruto hide! **The blonde already knew the drill as he immersed himself once more into the thick of the forest, silent again.

Already one with the wild growth of the forest, he couldn't be spotted even if he were wearing neon yellow. Like a shadow, he crept around the dense thick of the woods that was in his general location, searching for the one who had thrown that kunai. The scent he could get off of the handle of it was familiar, but he couldn't pin down who it was. He wasn't _that _good at tracking. . Yet.

Stopping by the edge of the little clearing, he looked towards the almost non-existent sounds of feet treading on ground and the rustling of bushes. He could make out two figures, one in grey and one in tan. Both hooded.

What would be silent whispers was low talking in the dead of night for Naruto's enhanced hearing from both his natural abnormal level and with the addition of chakra running through his body to keep him at peak performance. "Damn, lost that kid _again._" The hooded figure in grey spoke in a very hushed but annoyed whisper.

The other replied with a glare that shot daggers, "What do you mean _again?! _You said you took care of it already!"

The one in grey shook his head frustrated, "Not exactly, the fucking kid is impossible to catch. The ANBU of this village can barely keep track of him, let alone actually capture the little shit. He's as elusive as the fox he's got locked up inside of him."

The one in black nearly jumped to his feet in surprise, "You mean were here to kill _that?!" _shaking and the mysterious sound of warm liquid trickling down onto the cold earth bled out into the dark night. "What the fuck did you do to the boss to make us end up on this mission?!" the black hooded figure shakily got out a kunai and readied it.

The one in grey shook as well, he had gotten lucky the first time around. "He figured we were the fastest way to get to him since we've been here the longest. . God I hope after this we can finally live in peace without _him _watching our every move." And just then, as if the last part of his sentence had called upon the person he was addressing, the air seemed to freeze with anger and killing intent as the hairs on both the grey and black figure's necks stood straight out with a chill of pure fear ran down their spine. A voice had sounded out after a seeming eternity of being stunned by fear under the oppression of such bloodlust. Only it wasn't a voice that they were expecting which caught them off guard even more. It was a child's voice. A child's voice laced with. . Something else.

The whole forest seemed to grow colorless in the two assassin's eyes as the thick growling voice came out from seeming everywhere but mainly behind them. "_So it was you who tried to stake me_." The growl held every bit of intimidating essence as the fox within the small blonde even if it was that of a child. The fact that such a voice was coming from a child made it seem like a bad dream. The pressure in the air rose as did the temperature seem to drop even more, both males shivered where they were crouched, unable to move despite their attempts to do so. Cold sweat beading down their foreheads and back, _"In a weird way, I have to thank you for that."_

Both figures jumped up and stood back to back as unmuted shuffling could be heard, the sudden sound startling both assassins and forcing them into their guard. The moon was now shining brightly, putting down a grey-light veil through the thickness of the trees overhead. Both men jumped from each other as three kunai imbedded themselves down to the hilt in clear view to them. The one in grey shuttered in awe and fear, "Don't tell me." Not a moment too soon, the shiver inducing growl of the hidden little fox sounded again, _"You can have your knives back." _Both men looked at each other and reassumed their back to back position.

"_So. I take it you two work for somebody who wants me dead. . Could you two kindly tell me who?" _the shuffling sound was circling around them and changing directions, keeping them shuffling about each other trying to keep up with where they thought the sound was coming from.

"What's it matter to you demon?! You're going to be dead soon anyway! What difference does it make?!" the one in black was quick to challenge the unseen body of bloodlust. He was scared to the bone, he had only seen the boy once, and it was something he never forgot over the past two years. Hell, learning of just who or _what _he had been sent along with his partner to dispatch of had made him, a man in his early twenties, piss his pants like a little kid being barked at by a large dog. But then he had good reason to be scarred, he wasn't in the presence of a dog, oh no, he was in the presence of something much more sinister and of the demonic type.

The source of one of his only fears made itself heard again as its' circling around the two assassins changed direction and speed once again, this time a little faster, _"I have to know who to tell the Hokage to send your body's to." _The flat-out answer catching both hired men by surprise. They stepped back into each other so that their backs where pressed into each other as they both leaned forward, still in their guarding stances, though now they were having difficulty keeping up with the shuffling of the bushes that was now picking up in speed again.

It was the one in grey that spoke up this time, and he was ready to get passed this night as his fortitude was beginning to falter as well. He had been there to witness what the miniature monster in the bush had done too. "You should know, you did spend a lot of time with him and that friend of yours." As if flipping a switch off, the shuffling stopped. All sound seemed to stop, along with their heartbeats. Both men could only hear their breaths in the cold, moonlit night in the veiled dark of the forest. The trees seeming to encase them for the situation that they were in. Trapping them from any attempt at escape from the hidden demon in the bush.

The sound of a sort of sizzling surrounded them, they had no idea what it was, but it was a sound that seemed to be just underneath their ears, burning in the back of their minds. The temperature literally dropped and their breaths could be seen clear as daylight, and they were shuttering in and out.

The voice that much too deep to be a child's and yet still remained to be so sent ice cold chills all throughout the assassin's spines, "_WHY ARE YOU HERE?" _the deep growl wasn't loud, but the way it traveled about the dark murk of the forest made it seem as if the being that created the growl was right next to them.

Having lost track of the shuffling which they could only guess was the demonic blonde that they had been sent to kill long ago, they resulted to shifting clockwise every couple of seconds as the one in grey answered again, his partner in black to choked up to do anything but wheeze and shake. "To finish what the boss started."

Nothing but silence. The one in black continued to turn. A few seconds went by and he turned again. "Kuri." . . . nothing. He looked right to left, and saw nothing but the dark and dimly grey-light lit surroundings of the forest. He began to panic, his eyes darting right and left rapidly, "Kuri?" he shuffled to the left a bit, "Kuri!" he shuffled to the right a bit, "KURI!" he spun to his right and tripped on something about the size of a good sized log on its side and fell back.

The man in black fumbled to his feet and check to see what he had tripped on. It was his partner laying face down in the stick littered dirt. "Kuri are you ok?" he checked his partner and shook his shoulder. "Kuri!" he turned him over by the shoulders, and when he went back around to look him in the eye the only thing that answered him was his own struggled croaks of attempted screams. His throat had shut at the amount of terror that was struck into his thundering heart. His partner's throat had been torn out along with his bottom jaw, he was dead before he hit the floor. If he even did hit the floor, the remaining assassin hadn't heard a thing which scarred him even more.

"O-oh god Kuri! Oh shit! FUCK ME!" he scrambled back away from his dead partner who now sat on the ground lurching forward, what remained of the blood in his body slowly dripping out of the huge vacant cavity that stretched from where his bottom jaw used to be and ended a little passed his now exposed and gashed adamsappel. Taking in the sight of his dead partner in crime, he couldn't help but practically lunge back almost instantly after seeing what had happened to Kuri. Off a whim, and holding it as if it were a torch rather than a knife, the remaining assassin pulled out a kunai and was putting forth more effort to hold it without letting it fall from the shaking rather than making it look intimidating. It wasn't the fact that his partner had been killed that had him so frightened, it had happened a few times before in his line of business. It was the fact that a supposed 'child' was the one who did it. Not only that, but it was a 'child' that he had had a run in with before.

His mind was racing with different ways he could either escape or die while trying to escape. His arms never stopped trembling, but froze when the snarl instead of a voice of the little blond they thought they were hunting completely shut down his bodily functions when he spoke, "_Why are you here?" _the low but deeply resonating growling voice made the man in black quiver. A few moments were spent by the broken assassin trying to get the words to come out of his mouth, but his throat was clamped shut from fear. Again Naruto asked, but his patients were long gone and his scar over the left eye was beginning to open and bleed, having run into someone he _knew _was associated with the memories of his nightmares, controlling himself was not an option. "_WHY ARE YOU HERE?!"_

He was trying to make himself disappear into the tree, but couldn't move a single muscle aside from the ones that were convulsing uncontrollably from fear. Finally, he mustered a choked reply, "W-we were sent to kill you as a distraction!" a few seconds went by, or minutes he couldn't honestly tell. But it registered instantly the moment he caught a glimpse of who and what had killed his partner seemingly appearing out of the shadows in-front of him, surrounding his body, blood red chakra that seemed to have embers floating about inside of it. Every detail of the demonic child in-front of him was burned into his memory.

His slow approach wasn't any less intimidating than how the demonic chakra made him look already. If anything his stalking like approach made it all the more terrifying. As if he were just being allowed to even see him stalk towards him. It was probably true. Soul-tearing red slitted eyes met brown wide eyes as the blond stopped just in-front of the remaining assassin. Naruto crouched down onto one knee, eye level with the stunned prey before him. "_What's your name." _he spoke as a statement rather than a question. But then the assassin wasn't about to complain, he was incapacitated by fear alone.

"J-jiro." He answered obediently.

The feral featured boy wiped his clawed hands on the stunned man's jacket, ridding them of the pieces of the assassin's friend he had stuck on them, blood and a few chunks now dirtying it. "_I see. . Jiro" _his blood red eyes that were once looking down at the jacket and freshly cleaned claws drifted up to meet the Jiro's wide brown ones. _"What was I supposed to be a distraction for?" _the already thin slits of his eyes narrowed even more, putting the reflection of his fear-struck face into his full view from their eerie glow. His darkened whisker marks and protruding fangs making him all the less human or childlike in Jiro's eyes.

His body started shaking again, "W-we were supposed to kill you so that the other guys could get out with the lessened heat on them from your death." The shaking grew a bit.

Naruto never broke his gaze, instead dug it deeper, _"And what are they here for?" _Sensing that there was more to it than just him. It never was just him that was in misery's grasp, another was always dragged along with him.

Jiro gulped, "T-they were sent in to take the H-hyuuga's clan leader's eldest daughter for her e-eyes." His shakes grew uncontrollable as the main scar on Naruto's left eye opened slowly and began to bleed. He remembered this face all too well, though it wasn't as complete as what he had seen before, it was still just as terrifying. The scars only forming the main cut down the middle of his eye and forming the crescent-moon shape above his cheekbone, _"YOU WOULDN'T BE LYING TO ME, WOULD YOU JIRO?" _The low growl turning to a snarl of pure hatred as the boy's voice thickened with rage and power. His clawed right hand reached up and held Jiro's face by the cheeks and squeezed them enough to just break skin.

Jiro couldn't believe that this kid was. He really was a demon, "I-I swear I'm telling the truth! I wouldn't lie to you! Their probably on their way to your village's forest of death right now!" fear overtaking every sense and bit of training he had ever received. He had seen many things in his life as a missing shinobi, but none of them matched up to _him _aside from the Demon-Child holding him by his claws.

Naruto's scars were wailing but he willed them to stay at just the crescent-moon, he felt as if he would lose himself if he allowed the full extent to be revealed as he grew more mentally unstable the more his scars revealed themselves. He was having enough trouble as it was keeping his usage of Kurama's chakra in check as she warned him that the ninja in the village would sense it in a heartbeat if he used too much.

Jiro was helpless, and knew if he made the wrong move he'd be dead. He was after all just a grunt, he knew almost no ninjutsu if any at all. So he just sat and put himself into Naruto's mercy.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew something was going to happen, nothing good ever happened to him without something equally bad or worse occurring as well. "_Thank you for the info." _His demonic eyes opened halfway as he raised his right hand into a readied position, Jiro had served his purpose.

The assassin gulped and convulsed in terror uncontrollably.

"_Goodbye Jiro." _Were the last words he would ever hear as the child pierced his claws into his chest, shattering the bones of his upper torso as the other hand followed suit and pried his chest cavity open. He would have screamed had Naruto not made a mince of meat out of his lungs, he was dead in seconds. His heart was shredded and everything in close proximity of Naruto's claws were gashed into non-recognition of organs and bones. His freakishly enhanced strength coupled with dagger-like claws making quick work of him.

Blood now nourishing the ground beneath both Naruto and his newest kill, He turned slowly to see where he was at, being lost in his focus of both staying alive and getting what information he could from the two assailants he didn't know where he was exactly at.

Naruto took a few steps away from the gore he had created, and shook a little. It was _very _different killing a human than it was killing an animal, and it was starting to take its toll on him. **Kit? **Kurama had kept silent throughout the excursion, Naruto would be too focused and her words would have been tuned out even if she did try to talk to him. But now, he was coming back to the rest of his senses, and she could now offer her aid. **Are you ok? **Her voice fell on cold ears, he didn't have the time to beat himself up for killing two men who were trying to kill him. He had found out very disturbing pieces of information from his attackers.

Naruto shook his head and took more deep breaths, _Yeah. . I'm fine. _He opened his hellish eyes and got into a readied stance while taking one last look back at the two men he had killed in vicious retaliation. _But Hinata isn't. _And with that, he sped off into the forest in pursuit of the other men who had kidnapped his newly made friend, one that he couldn't afford to lose after getting to know her.

He hoped he could pick up their trail, he actually didn't know if they had taken her, but his gut was telling him otherwise, and he wasn't about to ignore the warning.

Traveling at a pace far beyond the capabilities of one his size, the forest was speeding passed his vision as he winded in and around the foliage. **They deserved to die, you had every right to take their lives Naruto. **Kurama started to try and keep Naruto from having a mental break down after what he had done. She had made him get his taste of first blood on an animal to prepare him for that of a human, she never intended nor thought he would spill another mortal's blood so soon. Not even a half an hour after he had killed the deer no less.

Naruto kept his pace, _It's not them I'm worried about Kurama. _He didn't need to finish the statement, she knew who he was racing after. The moment they mentioned the possibility of the small Hyuuga girl being in danger she knew he wouldn't react any different than he was currently. All she could do was make sure he was mentally prepared to do what he could when he got close enough to help.

Zipping through the trees like the forest was nothing but a field of grass, Naruto came upon the gates of the infamous 'Forest of Death' and stopped just shy of the massive gate surrounding the giant training ground and the overgrown and danger filled forest within.

Naruto was panting a little from the race there, and was taking steady breaths to prepare himself for whatever he would face inside the black sea of trees before him. **The shadows are yours Kit. Use them well.**

Kurama wouldn't talk him out of it nor did she want to. Saying it wasn't his affair wouldn't slow him down any more than the trials he had already passed to get to the fence line. She would however make sure he would make it out alive.

Taking one last deep breath, the fiery chakra enveloping him receded back into his body, and remained just under the sheath of his skin. He was concealed once more. With a huff, he hopped the fence and landed in a tree and began his chase into the dark of the forest.

Death was a very suiting name for the training ground, there would be much of it on this night.

* * *

The moon was shining like a lone star in a black sky as it cast its eerie light down through the dense leaves of the forest of death. A small group of rogue ninja wearing all black and equipped with the standard ninja packs on their belts were bunched up in the dense of the trees a little ways away from a stream. Towards one edge of the group a small figure was tied up and put off to the side as if it were another piece of equipment.

There were five men in total, with one off getting water for the rest of them. "Damn, this is too risky for my taste." One of them spoke.

"You're telling me, were going to have half the village on our asses if Kuri and Jiro don't take out that blonde brat that the boss wanted out of the picture." Another responded as the rest dug into rations while they could. The night was much too quiet and they all found it putting them on edge.

"Quiet!" the one in the middle raised his voice. Getting up, his necklace shifting about in his shirt. It was the ambassador sent from Kumo, Kaito. "I got the girl, now all we need to do is wait out the next two days and were out of here. They won't think were crazy enough to hide in their own village so once the ninja they send out for us are well enough away, we'll be out of here." The ninjato strapped to his back clunked a bit as he got up, his open shirt revealing the top of a necklace, what was exposed couldn't be recognized right away as anything in particular. It was white and about the size of a coin around the top.

"Yeah, no one would think were stupid enough to hide in the village's training ground for the chunin exams now would they?" Kaito ignored the man's antagonizing. He didn't really have anything to shut him up with anyway, they were in a very dangerous situation and they weren't very capable ninja. Hell the best jutsu any of them knew were substitution jutsu. They were the bottom of the bottom ranks of the boss's forces, he probably sent them on this mission just to amuse himself with their struggle. The only one of them with any excessive skill was Kaito with his sword, and even that was highly exaggerated. His reputation had been falsified specifically for this assignment.

"Just shut up and keep your eyes open, we just have to get through these next two days without any fuck-ups and were good to go." His words had no assurance to them, the group's entire aura was like that of a disheartened sports team who kept playing even though they knew they weren't going to win. Just passing the time until the game was over.

An hour passed by and their little captive was beginning to stir, but only because she was waking up, the moment she realized where she wasn't at anymore she froze.

Gagged and tied up, she couldn't speak outside of her mind, not that she wanted to anyway. At this point she wanted as little attention on herself as she could brush off. '_T-they took me. . I-I'm probably far away from Konoha by now.'_ She closed her eyes as tears began to well in them. What could she do? She was still only a child, she had just barely started training with her father, but had no knowledge of what to do in this type of situation, it was hopeless. She couldn't move around because both her hands and feet were bound together, it was completely hopeless. _'I'm all alone now.' _She cried.

Kaito noticed the whimpering of the little Hyuuga heiress and walked over to her. "Make a sound and ill knock you out again." with that, she fell silent as a mouse. She was frozen in fear, not knowing the slightest thing to do but comply with whatever she was told.

Kaito sighed and sat down against a nearby tree. He had pulled off the kidnapping perfectly, now all he had to do was wait. When he had first gotten there him and another one of his squad members had put on a high level henge with the help of some seals their boss had given them. His teammate had posed as Kaito while he disguised himself one of the escorts. After a few days of doing that when it was time for the big meeting, he stepped out of the guarding group outside of the hokage tower for a lunch break while his partner kept up the act with the Hokage.

He had to knock a guard at that patrolled the perimeter of the Hyuuga estate with a poisoned dart, he couldn't risk any casualties or the whole thing was off. He climbed a tree and hopped over the wall with just enough time to conceal himself from sight. He knew once he was inside the walls of the estate he was golden, his contact in the Konoha ANBU had told him that use of the Byakugan was forbidden in the estate for privacy reasons as users could see through walls and such.

He had trouble making it to the roof of the main house but got there in time for his target to be put to bed for the night. He waited on the roof sprawled out just above her bedroom window to avoid being detected and when he felt the coast was clear, slipped in tied her up and bailed. He held up a kunai to her throat saying that if she screamed he'd kill her. Seeing as how she was an ordinary five year old she was too scared to even blink. He bound her and made sure she wouldn't be able to make much noise and headed straight for training ground 43 where he rendezvoused with the others and dove into the 44th grounds.

Now that they were there, things seemed to have gone way too smoothly. They all couldn't help but to feel as if it should have been much more difficult to successfully kidnap a clan leader's daughter even if they were still hiding in the village.

They all couldn't help but to feel as if something was coming. But, they were all tired, and even though they should have been all on high alert, they allowed themselves sleep in intervals, taking turns of two men being awake and switching every hour.

At least that's how it was supposed to have went.

* * *

Naruto had picked up their scents easily enough, though it was difficult to make out the different smells as he was rather inexperienced tracking by scent alone, there was one scent he couldn't mistake. It was Hinata's. She smelled of pleasant lavender and his sensitive nose picked up on every trace of her scent. He focused on her scent to the point to where he didn't even need his nose close to the trail, he could tell which direction it was heading from a little ways away. He tried practicing the same with that of the other scent trails he was picking up, but was having trouble singling them out from each other. Deciding not to chance going off course with his friend at stake, he stuck to following the smell he knew. The smell of the kind girl who had spent a day with him out of her own accord.

After about an hour of stealthing about the shadows while tracking his friend's kidnapers, Naruto was finally seeing signs of getting close. But it wasn't the kind of sign he was hoping for. The smell of blood filled his nostrils along with the lavender glaze that permiated the air. He hopped onto a large tree branch fifteen feet off the ground and spotted the source of the familiar smell. It was a broken and jagged small branch porturding from the trunk of the tree, on its tip, a torn strip of bloodied cloth that looked to have been acquired while moving.

'_Damn, she's hurt!" _unable to keep his anger under control, the embers of his chakra cloak began forming, it wasn't formed into its full cloak of fiery chakra yet.

**Then they shall pay double for every drop of her blood they have spilt! **Kurama finished for him. She wasn't exactly close or attatched to any of Naruto's friends but she was thankful for the few that he had. As hard as she may be, she was bonded to him and despised seeing him suffer.

Picking up the torn cloth and putting it in his pocket, he moved his ninjato to where the hilt was on his right shoulder. The images and fragments of memories long since suppressed began to run across his eyes as if he were reliving him. His hidden scars reacting accordingly and the beginning works of the scar on his left eye started to open and bleed. The last thing he could register from the blurred memories was the screeching scream of a little girl, it sounded like it was fading off in the distance in his head. And with that he darted off following the scent of his white-eyed friend once more, one declaration sounding in his mind and cementing the following events of the night rang in his head, '_I WON'T FAIL THIS TIME!'_

The predatory side that he had tapped into before had taken hold again, and he wasn't going to let anything happen to someone he cared about again.

* * *

Three of the kidnappers were sound asleep while another two were patrolling the immediate area and Kaito watched over their small indigo-haired captive. That is until Kaito kicked the three asleep into alertness, "Get up!" he said in a hushed voice, making the three sleeping stooges sprang up with a groan and readied kunai.

"What?! What is it boss?!" the one in the middle received a smack for yelling so load in a dead quiet forest.

"Shut up moron! Something's coming." Kaito answered in a low voice. He noticed the regular singing of the crickets in the forest weren't quite right. Mainly because there were no circkets singing. That only happened when something was disturbing the still of the woods.

The group of hired men got into a circle, ready for whatever it was that had the forest seem all the more like what its name implied. A forest of death.

Minutes or eternity, they couldn't tell how long they stood there waiting for something, anything to come out and lunge at them. But nothing happened. The sound of rustling caught them all off guard and one of the men ran towards it kunai at the ready.

Stopping a few feet away from the disturbance, the kidnapper who had went to investigate stopped on a dime and let out a held breath. "Aint that a stretch. It was just the little shit we tied up." He leaned down to view her squirming child body. Anger on his face for being startled by a kid, "You little bitch, stop moving." He mumbled as he motioned his kunai to shut her up. But when she only narrowed her eyes in response and attempted to kick him he went to do more than just threaten her with his kunai.

He approached slowly and without a worry in the world, but when the tip of his kunai came to be one foot away from Hinata's small face, her eyes shot wide open in surprise as blood spurted onto her cheek. Her would-be body sculptor had the same look of surprise when he both heard and saw half of his hand fall of in a meaty pulp after a flash of blonde ran across his sight.

He gripped his blood squirting torn up nub of a hand and screamed in dumbfounded surprise and agony at the loss of pretty much his whole hand. Crimson eyes glowed as the light from the moon reflected off of them, "_YOU DON'T TOUCH HER! __**EVER!**__" _what started off as a growling yell turned into a snarling roar as his left arm that was desperately holding the maimed right hand soon followed suit and was torn off in a very vivid ripping sound as Naruto's claws viciously sank into the kidnappers arm and gored their way through it.

"AAAH FUUUUUCK! SHIIIIT!" the man was sprawled out on his back against the ground, the rest of the group turned at the moment he first screamed at the loss of his hand but took steps back when they saw what had followed next.

The feral blonde stepped out of the shadows of the foliage and made his presence known with the fire-like blood red chakra engulfing his body from the stomach out. His animalistic features becoming even more prominent as his whisker marks were dark lines on his face, his canines now full on fangs, his eyes that of the demon within him, and claws that showed what they clearly demonstrated not a moment before as the remaining blood on them dripped off. The scar down the middle of his eye and the crescent moon now present as his own blood began to flow.

Paying no mind to the wailing of the blood gushing man on the floor, the others backed away in shock and confusion as Naruto approached his friend.

Hinata was at a loss for words, not knowing whether to be scared from what Naruto had done to one of her kidnappers or be scared of the aura he was emitting. She was frightened at how he looked underneath his flaming chakra cloak but she was more relieved than anything else that someone had come to save her.

She had stirred the moment he showed his face to her through the thick bush next to her, she felt as if she had to do something with him being so close and in that dire situation. He held a finger to his mouth signaling her to be quiet when one of the men came to check the disturbance she had made. But when she saw his eyes turn from deep sea blue to glowing crimson red, she stood completely still, not sure of what he was doing or what was going to happen next.

When she saw what he had done, she was actually relieved that he didn't run away. The fact that he tore him apart, literally, escaped her as he cut her bindings and mouthed the words 'stay here'. She couldn't hear what he had said to her, she just knew that's what he had told her to do. So, she did just that, she leaned against the nearest tree and watched what her newest and only real friend defend her.

Naruto turned his head to where he could see the men both standing and the single wailing one on the ground. His back was facing them but he wasn't worried in the least, not in this state. "_You." _Naruto's demonic eye fell upon the struggling and whimpering man shivering on the floor, blood soaking his clothes and the ground around him, and turned to face him. The man's eyes went wide as he knew what was coming, and emptied his lungs with one last gut wrenching scream just as his throat was ravaged by a swipe of the small fox's claws. _"Be quiet." _Naruto lifted his gaze and stood straight up, dropping the piece of throat he had in his left hand.

The group of hired men were shaking despite their defensive stances. The amount of killing intent being directed their way made it hard for them to not soil themselves. _"Which one of you will tell me why you were trying to take my friend." _His demonic laced voice stated rather than asked.

The group didn't move anything but their eyes as they looked at each other from the sides. All of them thinking the same thing. _'Is this really a kid?'_

It was Kaito that answered him, taking one step forward form the group, "The same reason why we took you." His eyes as hard as steel. He had survived this kid's wrath before, he believed he could do it again. "Lord Orochimaru sends his regards." After finishing his sentence, he sent a kunai sailing straight towards the blonde's chest.

Naruto was too stalled with anger to bother moving out of the way, not only that, but he still had Hinata to look after and figured taking a hit would be the best option less he risk further harm to her.

A low thud mixed with a sort of splash like sound reached all of their ears, and the temperature dropped. The rest of Naruto's hidden scars opened and began to bleed as he viewed the hilt of the kunai, it was a ceremonial looking knife with a serpent carved on the handle and the bottom part of it was broken. He knew this kunai. The blood started to slowly make its way down his face as the invisible scars on his left arm opened as well, and used it to pull out the kunai that he knew and despised. Images of this kunai being used to carve the symbols that were now littering his body flashed across his eyes as he held it up.

His hand shaking from the amount of rage that was engulfing him. He had forced himself to forget that name but he always knew it. "_**Orochimaru**__" _it came out as a non-understandable snarl, but if you guessed that's the name that would come to mind.

"It seems like the experiment was a success. Orochimaru-sama is going to enjoy studying you again." Kaito smiled through his hardened gaze, he also took some joy in watching the boy squirm when he was in their care. "You'll be by yourself this time around though. We learned our lesson, your friend over there will be kept far away from you." His smile turned to a grin as Naruto's hair began to raise and sway as his chakra cloak swirled about him violently.

Though it stopped stopped on dime along with his growling as his expression turned from that of a predator to that of a defeated little boy. Kaito looked down and noticed that his necklace had popped out into the open when he shuffled about, revealing what it was. A Fang.

He pointed to it, "Oh you remember this?" he chuckled in a near sadistic manor, "I can't believe you actually remember this!" he laughed until he was out of breath, not worrying at all as Naruto was as still as stone. "I should probably tell you that you won't ever be seeing her again, Orochimaru-sama is starting to get bored of her, and it's only a matter of time before she's gone." The last part ending with a sick smile.

But, as fast as his smile plastered itself onto its face, it disappeared from the shiver running down his spine caused by the massive wave of killing intent and downright bloodlust along with the huge drop in temperature.

The once still cloak of chakra swirled about Naruto as if it were a hurricane of lava, "_Where is she?" _his voice was shaky and low, but the pressure of his anger mixed in with the bloodlust he was giving off discarded any thought that the demonic boy before them was defeated.

He took a started to make his way towards Kaito, the dust on the ground lifting as a reaction to his incredible and demonic chakra. Realizing that he made a huge mistake, Kaito began to panic, "S-shit, get him! What're you idiots waiting for?! Kill him!"

One of the four remaining men excluding Kaito charged while the rest hesitated. He met his death as he swung a kunai intended for the little blonde's neck, but missed as Naruto ducked instantly and shot a clawed hand cleanly through the man's stomach and out his back making a bit of his spine poke through the wound.

The rest of the men gasped and forced their rations to remain in their stomachs, "_Where is she?!" _Naruto asked again, raising his voice to a hard tone. Determining if he was still a child by his voice was impossible since it thickened with the demonic chakra flowing through him.

Kaito was shaking where he stood, completely unknowing of what to do now that he had literally woken up the demon in the boy. He looked to the rest of his men who were as equally stunned as he was. He shoved two in the shoulders, "What are you waiting for?! Go! Go! Kill hiiim!"

The two grunts stumbled a little but did as they were told. On went for the Naruto's torso while the other circled around to catch him from behind.

Naruto surged forward as if propelled by a giant spring and tackled the one going for him with his body as he latched onto his chest. The man had no time to react as he was struck down backwards onto the ground and watched as his chest was cleaved and bent outward before his very eyes until his world went dark.

With a snarl, and his now bleeding scars beginning to shimmer ever so slightly in the light of his chakra, Naruto made a complete one-eighty turn and deflected the other man's intended strike to his back with his claws. He could hear every move they made and see in the moonlight as if it were day in this state, there was no escaping him.

As soon as he brushed the man's attack aside he swiped at his face in an X and gashed his face to the point to where it wasn't possible to conceive that it had been a face at all.

Kaito and the only other remaining kidnapper were nearly soiling their pants and were frozen solid at what they were witnessing being done, and exactly _who_ was tearing their unit apart. In the most literal sense possible.

Naruto was on all fours at this point and slowly turned as his cloak formed to his body as ear-like shapes formed over his head and a single tail formed where it would be if he really were a fox. His hands and feet having paw-shaped cloak over them. He looked like a miniature glowing fox. Minus the demonic menace and bloodlust that also covered his features.

Naruto asked again, this time in a ferocious roar, "_WHERE IS SHE?!"_

Kaito drew his sword as the only other man remaining lunged forward in a desperate attempt to kill the demon in the flesh that was crouched in-front of him.

The man futilely tried to land a blow on Naruto as his hand burned when it got close to Naruto's chakra cloak as it repelled his kunai and successfully making it red-hot in the process. The blonde then lifted a hand/paw and pointed it at his current attacker on instinct. A second later, the form around his hand extended out and snatched the man in a giant chakra hand with a crushing grip. Naruto hoisted the man into the air and cocked his head to the side a bit as if to study him. It only lasted for a second as his face contorted into wicked fury and, with a growl, smashed the kidnapper in his grasp into the earth. The sound of the ground breaking under the pressure muffling the sounds of the man's bones breaking and insides spewing out from the holes made by the protruding and horribly fractured bones.

Kaito knew he was a dead man, he wasn't stupid. He had five different examples to show him why he wouldn't make it passed this night with the sixth reason staring him down like a piece of grass ready to be trampled on. He knew this was the reason why he had been sent on this mission. To see the results of his master's sick experiments. His only light in his now darkened world was that now he would soon be free from his snake-master's grasp.

He held up the simple fang necklace up a little off of his chest, "You want this right?" it was a stupid question on his part, but then what did he have to lose? He knew the little demon before him wanted nothing more than to find and save the girl he had to leave behind, it was a little justice served to him that he should be the one to kill him and be the rightful owner of it. It was _hers _after all, she would want him to have it. "Come get it."

The cloak engulfing Naruto swirled violently for a moment before it retreated back into him. His features were unchanged however. The only thing different were his scars. They were changing from a shimmer to a glow. Each symbol inscribed on his little body glowing as dark a crimson as his eyes. The temperature dropped even lower than it already was, and he clenched his claw bearing fists as he started towards the last of his prey.

Kaito stood firm, now calm and gathered. He knew his life was at an end, and he wanted it to end at least in a sliver in the way he wanted it to. Naruto sped up to a speed walk and then a run to a full on sprint, Kaito just stood firm.

Naruto lunged with a roar that vibrated the very air with the amount of anger he put into it. The two met with a shower of blood and sparks. Naruto's claws found flesh and steel just as Kaito's blade found flesh and pearly claws. The deep cut across Naruto's chest was already closing by the time they faced each other again, and Kaito had a grim look on his face. If it wasn't already known that he could not kill this boy, it was made even clearer when he saw what should have been an incapacitating wound fill with blood and close as fast as blood started to seep through the gash. Even Naruto noticed how fast he healed when operating off of Kurama's chakra, his own healing powers were incredible enough but this was just unreal.

Kaito looked to his weapon and frowned even deeper, there was only half of it left. It seemed to him that the chakra Naruto was using made his claws sharper and denser than your average metal. Seeing as how it was technically bone and organic, they could be repaired just as easily as his body making them that much more reliable.

Seeing that he might as well make use of it, Kaito held it just the same as before and redid himself. They charged each other again, this time would be the last.

Naruto knocked Kaito on his back and on the ground with his claws dug into the collar of each shoulder. Growling at the blade that was now lodged in his stomach, he asked again in a voice that could be mistaken as the demon within, _**"Where is she?"**_

Kaito was already dying, but wouldn't give in at the last moment. He had more dignity than that. with a gurgling and weak voice, he looked Naruto in the eye as best he could as his vision was fading and spoke his last sentence with a smile on his face, "O-out of your reach, p-pup."

His eyes and fully visible scars now all glowing an intense crimson, Naruto roared and dug his right hand into Kaito's throat, his left into his chest, and simultaneously ripped out whatever was within his grasp.

Naruto was breathing heavy, his lust for blood pounding in his head and heart. The whole ordeal had gone by just as fast as it had with the deer but taken eternity at the same time. Claiming the necklace off of his dead foe, Naruto heaved himself to his feet. Still breathing heavy, he took deep whiffs of the air through his nose, and turned his head to a tree that was taller than the rest and snarled.

"_You tell Orochimaru that his EXPERIMENT isn't under his control!" _Naruto could only make out a slight outline of a figure hiding in a high part of the tall tree around one hundred meters away, his vision being the only reason he could even make out a figure that define at a distance like that even with night vision.

He turned his whole body to face the mysterious figure and flared his blood-red chakra out again, "_YOU TELL OROCHIMARU THAT HELL NEVER CONTROL ME!" _His chakra swirling and swishing violently as his voice began turning back into the demonic snarl that it was.

He took a few more steps forward as his fox cloak came into shape and he resumed his demonic form, _**"YOU TELL OROCHIMARU I'M COMING FOR HIM!"**_

The figure stood until the end of Naruto's declaration and made a B-line for anywhere away from there.

Naruto shook in place from the rage within him for a few moments before he shook his head and his chakra receded. He held up his right hand whose claws were retreating as well, and locked his gaze on the fang-necklace in his palm.

His body felt heavy, really heavy. The glow of his scars faded and they healed soon after, he did nothing but stand in place a bit and caress the fang in his hand with his thumb. He broke the trance and looked around a bit before trotting over to where Hinata was at, and to his relief she was unharmed. She was shaken, but unharmed.

"Hinata? You ok?" he figured she'd be scared, he was now debating whether she feared his very presence or not.

Hinata at first leaned back ever so lightly, Naruto caught this and looked down a little with a small smile of sadness. _'At least she's safe.' _He blinked and noticed something was wrong. Something was dampening his shirt. He looked down and noticed what Hinata had backed up from. In his heated frenzy of discovering a spectator and the whirlwind of emotions and discoveries, he had forgotten one important thing. He still had the remaining half of Kaito's ninjato in his stomach, though it was more so higher up towards his chest area.

"Oh. ." was all Naruto could really say in his current situation. He stumbled back a bit and fell down to one knee.

"O-o my god! N-naruto you're hurt badly!" the thought a little slow to register in her young mind after everything that had just happened. She scrambled up to him and knelt down inches in-front of him. "L-let me help you. U-ugh what do I do? What do you need me to do?" her hands were darting from his chest to around where the sword was lodged in him, not a clue in her head of what to do.

Naruto smiled a bit and put a bloodied hand onto her bare shoulder, she was still in her night dress, "Its ok Hinata, I'll be fine." He squeezed her shoulder a bit as she locked eyes with his, a look of relief in hers now that his eyes were back to the deep blue that she was familiar with.

That relief faded quickly as blood began to reach her knees, it was pooling from his wound, "B-but what about this?" she frantically asked as she pointed just as shakily to the trail of blood leading down to the growing pool around him. Hinata had no idea how she was keeping herself together at this point, had this been her any other time and she would have fainted at the sight of a single droplet of blood. Let alone a sword lodged in her newest and undeniably best friend. Perhaps it was that which kept her young mind operating, there was no way of telling.

Naruto squeezed her shoulder again, earning her attention in the process, "Pull it out."

Her eyes went wide at what he had said, and she could do nothing but shake her head no in short and rapid movements while her lips quivered.

Naruto smiled a little and assured her, "I'll be fine, I promise." His eyes sending her warmth remotely as the terrain was still a bit chilly, but it was returning to normal.

Hinata was hesitant, she knew it couldn't be good to pull out the sword, but then it was just as bad as leaving it in. _'No no no no! What do I do?!'_

He could see the confusion on her face and put both hands on her shoulders, "You trust me don't you?" he asked with a small smile, he was starting to feel woozy.

Hinata was stunned from the touch momentarily but strengthened her resolve, he had just saved her from being kidnapped and god knows what else, she wasn't going to question him more than necessary. Though hesitantly, she replied in a hushed voice. As if more men would come for them if she spoke too loud, "Yes, I trust you Naruto-kun." She began to blush as she calmed down under his gaze.

Naruto nodded as he braced himself. Hinata shakily grabbed the sword, but took another glance up to him once it was in her grasp. He smiled again, and she nodded as she tried to still herself.

Hinata began to pull, and almost immediately Naruto tensed up and his eyes slammed shut while he clenched his hands into tight fists. 'I'm hurting him. .' she thought, 'I'll make it as quick as I can for you Naruto-kun'. She straightened herself and pulled harder, but the sword was very hard to pull out with him tensing up so badly. After a moment she stopped, feeling warm hands cover hers. She looked and found them to be Naruto's.

He smiled again though there was another wince of pain included with it. With a nod from both of them, they started again. Naruto gritted his teeth and groaned deeply as they were making slow progress. They picked up in pace and Naruto let out a yell of agony when they finally pried the sword free of his body.

Naruto held his stomach and fell onto his back, panting hard and his eyes slammed shut.

Hinata had fallen back to with the ninjato in her hands. When she looked over to see Naruto holding his stomach she scrambled up and discarded the ninjato quickly as she raced to his side. "Naruto! What now?! What do I need to do?!" she was desperately trying to help her friend that had just saved her life, and who she thought might be losing his.

She pressed her hands onto his wound, figuring with her hands in the way it wouldn't bleed as bad though she mostly did it off a whim, not really knowing what she was doing. Naruto took hold of her hands and lifted them gently even though she resisted. Her eyes darting to every part of his body to see if he was bleeding from anywhere else.

Hinata looked to his face and saw the same small and calm smile, "You worry too much Hinata-chan." He tapped next to where they had pulled the sword from, it had almost stopped bleeding already, "See? It's getting better already thanks to you." He chuckled a bit before coughing up a little blood and holding his stomach in pain. "Heh, too soon for laughing."

Hinata could do nothing but stare at him with wide eyes as pale as the moon that shone high above the sky. She had no idea what to do. She didn't know how to help. She looked to the wound and was trying to see what was wrong with it. It was still bleeding but it had slowed a lot. She focused as hard as she could, trying to find any other cut that he may have had before her vision flashed white and her head felt like it was going to split.

It was too sudden for her to have any reaction to it other than the few tears that welled up before she was rendered unconscious and fell next to the blonde she was so desperately trying to help.

Naruto's sight was fading, he was slipping into sleeps embrace as well, and he knew it. Before the sandman put him to rest, Naruto reached into his pocket and hoisted the fang-necklace into his view. Tears welled in his eyes as the hidden scars around his eye began to bleed again, "A-ai. .yu." his eyes became too heavy to keep open and they slammed shut as he slipped into the dark embrace of sleep. His hand still holding onto _Aiyu's _necklace without any chance of dropping it, flopped down beside him and next to the hand of the small and unconscious Hyuuga heiress beside him.

He had saved her.

The last things he heard before completely succumbing to sleeps trance were muffled sounds of what he thought were footsteps recklessly trampling through the bush at a very hastily pace, paying no mind to stealth. And the feel of a warm embrace lifting his tired body and moving him into the unknown that he could no longer guess.

The smell of the person holding him was familiar. Naruto was glad _he _found them, but would have to complain to him about his smoking habit.

The smell of pipe tobacco burned his nose.

Elsewhere…

Having successfully made his escape from Konoha, a hooded figure couldn't help but chuckle in the most sinister of ways. _'How easy it is to sneak in and stir up trouble in the old village.' _Were the thought of the hooded figure with gleaming yellow snake eyes that seemed to pierce anything they laid their gaze upon. _'Not like I must sneak in if I wish to enter Konoha, but my purpose there required a quiet approach.' _The pale skinned man chuckled and though aloud, "Ku ku ku, and it was well worth it."

He laughed again at the developments of one of his long-term investments. He then looked to his side, "Come Kabuto." A small boy appeared out of the shadows with spectacles gleaming in the moonlight.

"Yes master." Was all the monotone boy spoke as he got onto one knee, earning a sinister smile from the reptilian featured man before him.

"I saw somebody that I think I'll keep an eye on for quite a while now. . he's already progressed very nicely ku ku ku, and he remembers you dear! Can you fathom that? He misses you!" the snake of a man cheered in a sick and comical way as he called out another person. "He even remembers the little nickname he gave you and your little gift on first sight!" the way he found it all so amusing was sickening. As if nothing was worth watching unless suffering was involved with those he was toying with. "Do you miss him? I'm curious to see." He asked with a disturbing looking smile.

At the beck and call of his question, a girl that looked to be around the age of 8 or 9 despite the very early signs of womanly development barely undergoing its way stepped out from the shadows and into the moonlit light. Slightly tall in stature, she walked and knelt beside the grey-haired and spectacled boy. Bowing her violet, fanned-ponytail hairstyle head, she addressed him the same as the boy next to her as well. "No master."

The long black-haired snake man looked to the side of her neck where the seal he had placed on her was glowing, the three tomoes similar to the Sharingan glowing a bright orangeish red, signifying that it was indeed working as it was intended.

The pale snake smiled, "That's so sad to hear. . Do you want to go to him?" he asked as the girls head began to shake.

Lifting her head to expose her fair face coupled with pupil-less light-brown eyes and sweating forehead as she struggled with her answer. The yellow-eyed man cocked his head a little as the girl gritted her teeth in struggled effort, "Yes Orochimaru-sama."

The sannin smiled in amusement, '_Even in this state she still fights the cursed seal's hold on her. And there is an especially interesting reaction when the mention of the fox boy comes into play. How interesting indeed.' _He thought before addressing the girl in a loose fitting jacket, "Ku ku ku you still intend to keep your promise to him don't you. . Anko." His smile grew into a grin as her hands clenched into fists on the ground.

In a second her seal flared and she was on the floor screaming in agony, "Not just yet my beloved student, you must first teach young Kabuto here everything you know while I'm away. You may do what you wish afterwards, I'll have no need of you then." And with that, he turned around to head back to one of his many secret bases scattered all throughout the land of fire.

"Come, we can pay a visit to your little fox friend another day."

Orochimaru chuckled as both his students obediently followed him towards their next hideout. While their master had a very amused look on his face. '_Ku ku ku, the little fox of Konoha has grown a bit since the last time I saw him.' _He had Anko prepare the hand-seals for their shunshin to their next base while he humored himself. '_He's grown into quite the little terror for meat Ku ku ku, the little Blood Fox of Konoha.' _He could control his laughter no more as the product of his experimenting with his cursed seals had taken such an unexpected turn in the little blonde.

But, he had a schedule to keep, and reluctantly standing around and laughing about the misery he causes wasn't on it. So, with the nod of approval, himself and his two students' shunshinned out of Konoha territory as their bodies slowly engulfed in flames and smoke.

The last thing to be seen from the group were the piercing yellow eyes, and the wicked smile of the snake sannin.

* * *

Ok, so there you have it, chapter 6 everyone :) I hope I did a decent job. I know, a lot of information and not enough action, but its getting there. . its getting there. as for the backstory on Anko and Naruto meeting as children, that will be told next chapter im afraid :l , I couldn't make this chapter overly-long, and besides I figured id give you guys something to be angry at me about for not shining enough light to see what im doing with it :D as for the whole psychology bit of this chapter, that was mainly to put to rest those of you who would question why Naruto is probably a little exaggerated on the intelligence part and why he is the way he is and what not. As for the memory thing, he cant remember picture clear everything in his life, I wont go that far, that I will leave to develop with the story as would a theory play out in real life. so, you'll have to wait on that one too. Aside from that, that's pretty much all I needed to cover I think. oh and ill be posting a picture of how I imagined Naruto's 'bleeding scars' (wasn't really sure what to call them so that name kind of stuck) pretty soon, so for those of you who find it difficult to picture things in your head or if my writing just plain sucks, there will be a picture for you (Drawn by me so don't laugh at it please) posted soon :), soo, read, review, call me names, pm questions and concerns and the next chapter should be up in about a week or so. Oh that reminds me, I got asked if Im going to be giving a time template of how often ill update so ill put it to you guys simply. I will update no LESS than ONE a month. BUT, I will aim for one every other week, and if im lucky enough, one a week. so with that being said, you are guaranteed one a month, and you can expect two, and hope for three. not exactly a template but you get the idea I hope. anyways, happy reading everyone :)


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